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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24471181">Fight for the Library</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_II/pseuds/Jade_II'>Jade_II</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Library Fix-It</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:07:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24471181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_II/pseuds/Jade_II</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctor Moon looks up at River. “If there’s someone doing physical damage, he can only be stopped physically.”</p>
<p>“Well that’s a bit of a problem isn’t it, considering we’re all just data ghosts in here,” she snaps.</p>
<p>He stands. “We need outside help. I can send a distress signal.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleventh Doctor/River Song, The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>158</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Invasion in the Library</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adrenaline, or its virtual equivalent, floods through River as she crouches behind a bookshelf to catch her breath.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She looks along the narrow corridor next to her; at Anita, Other Dave, Proper Dave, Miss Evangelista and Charlotte, all similarly wheezing with digital effort.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte,” she whispers. “Maybe a bit less realism on the exertion front.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte glances up at her, panting – it takes her a moment, but she gets the gist and nods. River feels her breathing go back to normal, and she dares to peer around the corner.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nothing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We may have lost them for now,” she reports, and the others sag in relief.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re sure they’re real people?” Anita asks Charlotte.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The girl nods. “Baxter is one of the ones we saved.” She meets River’s eyes. “He went away with the others but now he’s come back. What does he want?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Us out of the way, by the look of things.” River glances around the corner again, just to be sure there’s no one in pursuit. “Do you remember anything about him?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte shakes her head. River isn’t surprised; the time when she was juggling 4022 people in her mind is not easy for Charlotte to recall at the best of times.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How are they here though?” Other Dave asks. “Are they dead too?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No,” says Charlotte. “He’s come back the same way.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Using the transporter in the physical Library,” Miss Evangelista guesses. “If they didn’t give a destination they would end up here automatically.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River nods – that makes sense. “Unfortunately for us.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Proper Dave shakes his head, affronted. “They can’t just barge in uninvited. This is <em>our</em> Library.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte’s right though,” says Anita. “What do they want?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte,” River prompts. “Can you eavesdrop?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte nods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Instantly they’re back in her living room, crammed onto the sofa in front of the television, with Charlotte sitting cross-legged on the floor. She picks up the remote control and presses the power button.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The screen flashes into life to display a wide shot of the asphalt of a spaceport, with the two goons who had been pursuing them running towards the extended ladder of a small luxury craft. River can’t help but admire the efficient way they check for guards and cameras and then pick the palm lock on the side. Clearly they’ve done this kind of thing before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once they’re through the airlock the camera switches to an interior view. Goon #1 is gaping at the lush furnishings; goon #2 looks smug.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What better hideaway, eh?” he cheers, gesturing expansively at their surroundings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s Baxter,” Charlotte whispers. “I don’t know the other one.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The other one, a woman, is nodding, reluctantly appreciative. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No kind of law enforcement will ever find us here, Val,” Baxter boasts, flopping down into an armchair. “Guaranteed.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What about those others we saw?” Val sounds a lot less exuberant, and she paces around the cabin.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“They’re not real, all the real people are gone. Must be some imaginary playmates for the little girl.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Val grunts, clearly sceptical. As well she should be, River muses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They all jump as a third voice sounds out of nowhere. “How are you settling in, folks?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Who’s that?” Anita whispers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River is more concerned with Charlotte, who is sitting bolt upright, frozen to the spot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte?” River climbs down onto the floor next to her and reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder. “What is it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He’s in the Library,” Charlotte whispers. She looks at River; her eyes are wide with fright and tears are pooling rapidly in their corners. “He’s in the data core. He’s in my mind,” she raises her voice, “get him out!” The last word is more screech than speech.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River looks at Miss Evangelista, who is already pulling an interface out of thin air and typing furiously. “She’s right,” she reports. “There’s someone physically in the Library, interfering with the hardware. There’s a limit to what we can do from in here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“See if Doctor Moon can do anything,” River instructs. “Charlotte.” She turns back to the girl, who has curled up into a whimpering ball on the floor. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll get him out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How?” Charlotte whines.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We’re working on it. Don’t worry.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Doctor Moon materialises in the room. “Charlotte,” he says immediately, kneeling beside her. “Tell me what you see when you close your eyes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“There’s a man there!” she repeats. “He’s pulling out cables… I don’t like this!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Doctor Moon looks up at River. “If there’s someone doing physical damage, he can only be stopped physically.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well that’s a bit of a problem isn’t it, considering we’re all just data ghosts in here,” she snaps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He stands. “We need outside help. I can send a distress signal.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Since when can you send distress signals?” River asks, taken aback. If he’d been able to do that all those years ago, there would have been no archaeological mission a century later and none of her team would be here…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Since the Doctor upgraded me,” he declares, and he looks her right in the eye. “I will call the Doctor.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River needs a moment, or a lifetime, or to go back in time, she’s not sure.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She sits in the garden, in the little corner between the shed and the wall of the house, and she tries to get a grip on herself. The day is perfect, as usual – blue skies with perfect fluffy clouds floating overhead. Birds chirping. A butterfly soars past her face. She’s conscious for the first time in a while of how surreal this world really is. How fake.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maybe the Doctor won’t come. She doesn’t even know how she would feel about that. Relief? Disappointment? Probably some unpleasant mixture of both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She’s built a life here, of sorts. She can go for days without thinking about him, now. How unfair of him to build himself into the framework of her new existence without even telling her. How typical.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You okay?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita’s voice; Anita’s face, peering around the corner.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River nods, but she doesn’t move. Anita moves instead, striding over to sit on the grass next to her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You sure?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No,” River admits. “Not a bit.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’d like to see the Doctor again,” Anita says, after a moment. “I liked him.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A laugh escapes River’s mouth unexpectedly; then, less surprising, a tear from her eye. “So did I.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita laughs too, kindly, and she pats River on the arm. “Come on. Charlotte needs us.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River nods, and stands. Being needed always helps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte bursts through the patio door at that moment anyway, eyes shining.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He’s here!” she exclaims. “And he’s a she!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River allows herself to be bundled back into the living room and onto the sofa.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor looks back at her from the television, standing in the Library’s main hall wide eyed and mouth agape with either wonder or worry – possibly both.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River,” she says.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River tries not to squirm as she feels all the eyes in the room focus on her. “Hello sweetie.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte’s right, she’s a female regeneration – her Thirteenth self. But she’s still the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I got your distress signal.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River nods. For a moment she’s tempted to let someone else explain, to try to hide in the background – Miss Evangelista could do just as good a job at describing what’s been going on. But she doesn’t want to be vulnerable right now. It’s not the time. She needs to be River Song, River Song like the Doctor always meant when he used her full name like that. The River Song who is larger than life, and definitely larger than any personal feelings that might otherwise get in the way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So she tells her, “Short version, we’ve been invaded. There are two men here in the data core, hiding from the law; we can probably deal with them, but there’s a third one physically in the Library, interfering with CAL’s hardware. Him, we need some help with.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor nods as well, her expression focussed. “I’ll find him. What’s the Vashta Nerada situation these days?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No idea.” River looks around, but only gets shrugs from the others. “They have to die off at some point, presumably, with no food.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes,” agrees Miss Evangelista. “But who knows when? You should be careful, Doctor.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Careful, gotcha,” the Doctor repeats.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m sending you some code,” Miss Evangelista says. “If we need to, we can use your screwdriver as a teleport beacon and bring you in here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor’s eyes widen, and River is sure she’s looking directly at her, thinking the same thing – the Doctor, in the Library? – and suppressing whatever emotion that thought might spark. After a moment, she just nods, looking down to adjust the screwdriver. “Anything else I should know?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He might be clever,” River warns her, pushing everything away but the problem at hand. “Charlotte says he’s inside her mind. And he’s already worked out how to project his voice in here to his cronies.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor grins that smug little grin that every regeneration has a version of, the one that says she’s a bit overly pleased with herself. “I’ll just have to be cleverer.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’d better be.” River’s voice is perhaps sterner than necessary. “We can’t come out and save you if you do something stupid, and bringing you in here isn’t going to help if you’re already dead.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Nothing stupid, yes dear. I’ll find another console when I’m closer to the core, give you an update.” With a wave, she moves off down the nearest corridor, brandishing her screwdriver.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte, you don’t let her out of your sight,” River says quickly, before the whatever it is welling up inside her from hearing the Doctor call her <em>dear</em> again can spill into her words.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte nods, picking up the remote, and River tries to calm down. She doesn’t want to be the centre of attention right now – not because of this, anyway. Not because of the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She tries not to reflect on the fact that, in all the dozens of scenarios she’s daydreamed over the years of the Doctor returning to the Library, not one of them involved the Doctor focussing more on some crisis than on their reunion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And yet, how typical of the Doctor to do so. And she’s not wrong, either, so River can’t even complain.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte gasps, and the image on the television starts to flicker.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Charlotte?” Glad for the distraction, and then guilty for feeling glad, River takes her hand. “What’s happening?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Charlotte stammers. “I’m scared.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s okay. The Doctor is here now, she’ll fix it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte nods, but she’s shaking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Can you show us what he’s doing?” River asks, nodding at the TV.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte closes her eyes, and the static resolves into an image of a man, doing exactly what Charlotte said he was doing – pulling out cables.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you think?” River asks Miss Evangelista.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miss Evangelista is already studying the picture carefully. “I think he’s trying to reroute the command pathways. He’s trying to give himself and his friends administrator rights, control of the whole computer.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sounds like bad news for us,” Anita comments.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It will take him a while though,” says Miss Evangelista. “CAL isn’t designed to be controlled from the outside. CAL controls herself. Outside access was only ever meant for diagnostic purposes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you think the Doctor can reach him before he does real damage?” River asks grimly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miss Evangelista glances at Charlotte, and the look on her face when she meets River’s eyes is not as optimistic as she would hope. “I don’t think the Vashta Nerada are gone. Based on the literature and our own experiences, they can survive a very long time without feeding. And we have no idea how long the spores can lie dormant in the books, or what it is that causes them to germinate. I think it’s doubtful that there are no viable spores left in the Library.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River sighs. “Unfortunately, you’re probably right. Though that would be unfortunate for our friend down there as well, I think he’ll find. Charlotte,” she rests a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Can you show us the Doctor again?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte meets her eyes and nods, though she’s still shaking. The image on the television splits to show the intruder on the right and the Doctor on the left. So far, there’s no sign of the Vashta Nerada – but so far, the Doctor hasn’t gone a long way. Even using the gravity platform it will take her at least ten minutes to make her way down to the core.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Doctor Moon, is there at least something we can do to slow him down?” River suggests. “Can we make things more complicated for him?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Doctor Moon takes a moment to compute this, but he nods. “Anything which makes Charlotte more complicated to get to in here will translate into complications for him.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What about distracting him?” Other Dave pipes up. “What if his friends over there in the luxury yacht need his help?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good idea, Other Dave” River claps him on the shoulder. “You and I will go over there and see what we can do. Miss Evangelista,” River stands, suddenly in control, in her element, somewhere she hasn’t been in years, “I want you to design a labyrinth. Put it up around the house. Keep Charlotte in the centre with Doctor Moon. You two help,” she says to Anita and Proper Dave. “Anything you can come up with to make it harder to get through. Monsters, riddles, traps, anything at all.” She glances at Doctor Moon. “Will that work?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes.” He nods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good. Other Dave, you’re with me.” She goes to leave the house, but Miss Evangelista calls her back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River.” She throws her a mobile phone, one matching the time period of Charlotte’s house. “We don’t want you to have to work through the maze to get in touch.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Thanks.” River imagines an extra pocket in her dress, and deposits the phone. Then she nods again at Other Dave, and they go.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She takes them to the edge of the spaceport complex to take stock, and she realises with a start that she recognises it – this is one of the landing strips in Space Vegas. Which explains the luxury craft, which are, she realises, now all around them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We want to keep them occupied for as long as possible,” she says to Other Dave in a low voice, crouching behind the corner of a terminal building. “Any ideas?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We should split up,” he says. “Make them think there’s only one of us. And then, when they least expect it, the other one swoops in.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River is impressed. Other Dave is normally more of a follower than an ideas person. Must be all the self help books he’s been playing in recently.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Okay,” River agrees. “I’ll go in first. I’ll try to confuse them to start with, before they even realise there’s one of us, let alone two. Then we’ll slowly dial up the crazy.” She grins. “Ready?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ready when you are.” Other Dave nods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River pats him on the shoulder and sneaks out onto the asphalt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She doubts they’re looking outside – more likely they’re drinking champagne, that’s what she would do – but she changes her appearance anyway, morphing into a sleek vixen and trotting in front and then around her target before coming to a halt underneath the port wing. Then she turns herself into a fly and sneaks into the hold via some small gaps in the landing gear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s nothing in the hold – why would there be? The morons upstairs probably haven’t even thought about the existence of the hold – so River takes a moment to become human again and gather her thoughts. The animal thing can be fun for a while, but if she’s in a pinch she’s not going to want to worry about steering an unfamiliar body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Still, there’s one way she can stay human without giving too much away at once.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With a grin, River turns herself invisible and levitates up through the ceiling and into the cabin.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The first thing she notices is that they’re not drinking champagne – apparently they’re too unimaginative for that, so they’ve gone for cheap Martian lager, no doubt something they’re used to drinking in the real world. Honestly though, how boring.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Time to have some fun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River snaps her fingers and everything goes black. The two goons yelp and she can hear them flailing about.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Baxter, what’s going on?” Val demands furiously.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know! I didn’t do anything!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well somebody turned out the lights!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River lets them yell for a moment before restoring the daylight – but not before dressing them both in neon pink tutus.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the hell?” Val cries, looking furious. “What the hell are you playing at?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It wasn’t me!” Baxter squeals, blushing scarlet. “Harry? Harry! Something’s wrong in here!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Harry’s reply comes immediately – he must be listening in as he goes through Charlotte’s insides. “What do you mean? I’m busy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Look at us!” Baxter screeches.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Harry guffaws. “Suits you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Harry.” Val’s voice is much colder. “Sort this out. Now.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes boss,” Harry says immediately – which makes River wonder what power Val could possible have over someone as clearly intelligent as he is. What exactly is the dynamic here?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Whatever the answer, the distraction is definitely working.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River plays with their outfits some more – clowns, babies, grim reapers, whatever pops into her head. It’s pretty hilarious, even if she says so herself. The two of them get more and more furious with each new outfit, and River has to stop herself from guffawing out loud. When she dresses them both up as Catwoman and a snigger escapes her she decides she’d better change tack.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Moving over to where they’ve left their stash of lager, she picks up a can and opens it before pouring it unceremoniously over Baxter’s head. While he splutters in rage and confusion she opens a second one, and is about to pour it on Val when the other woman grabs her wrist triumphantly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River gasps, making herself incorporeal for a moment to escape. Damn, she’d been having too much fun; she should have realised Val was putting two and two together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Someone’s here!” Val snarls, whacking Baxter in the arm to shut him up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Whaddaya mean?” he says, slicking back his beer-soaked hair. “There’s no one in here but us, I told you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That was a person,” she states. “I <em>felt</em> them.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Baxter’s right though,” Harry chips in. “You two are the only proper signatures. It must be part of the defense system.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I thought you were bringing that down?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I am, it’s just taking me a bit longer than expected.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well <em>work faster</em>,” Val demands. She stares at her hand, concentrating, and a gun appears in it. Lifting it, she seems to relax a bit, and she moves to sit in an armchair farther down the cabin; a vantage point which lets her see the whole inside of the craft as well as through the windows on both sides, River notes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s a knock at the door, and the cheerful voice of Other Dave comes through clearly. “Hello! Welcome to the neighbourhood! We’re at your disposal for all your needs!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Val chucks the gun at Baxter, who nearly drops it. “Shoot it,” she commands him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes Val.” He nods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River is really glad this isn’t real life; Other Dave wouldn’t stand a chance against these two. As it is, hopefully he’s got enough knowledge of how to use the Library and just enough ingenuity to work things through.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She still finds herself gritting her teeth though, waiting to see what happens.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Baxter approaches the hatch cautiously, then takes a breath, hits the release button, and shoots.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave is taken by surprise. “Ooh,” he says, looking at the bullet hole in his chest. “Ooh, that wasn’t very friendly.” He smiles pleasantly as the hole fades, and steps inside. “I only stopped by to say hello.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We don’t want your hellos,” Val tells him coldly. “Go away.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave tuts, walking towards her as Baxter steps backwards. “Again, not very friendly.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“If I’m friendly, will you go away?” Val asks, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course, if that’s what you would like. But let me give you the tour first,” Other Dave attempts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Maybe another time,” says Val. “Thank you so much for all your kind help. Now please leave us alone.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave’s imagination fails him. He looks around, probably searching for River, and when he doesn’t find her he nods and goes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Suppressing a sigh, River risks transporting herself outside to meet him. As soon as the hatch closes again she makes herself visible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave starts, and River can’t help but laugh. “Nice effort,” she says. “Shame they didn’t appreciate your hospitality. We may have to try a less pleasant approach.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Like what?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You can be the invisible one this time,” she decides. “Throw things at them, they didn’t like that. Meanwhile I’ll turn up the menace.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She changes her outfit to something leather and threatening, and chooses the biggest, meanest gun she can imagine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you think?” she asks Other Dave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Scary.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good.” She nods at the hatch. “You go in first. I’ll follow once they’re good and irritated.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave echoes her nod, and disappears. River turns herself invisible again and follows, sticking herself to the ceiling for an optimal viewpoint.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Predictably, the two are driven no less crazy by Dave’s antics than by River’s, and Val is soon screeching at Harry again to hurry up and help. River waits until they have Harry’s full attention again, and then she drops down and becomes visible in one smooth motion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She levels the gun at Val. “You’re not welcome here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Val stares. “Who are you?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Harry, River notices, has gone quiet too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I live here,” River tells her. “You don’t. Get the hell out of my home.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“She’s not real!” Harry calls. “Just ignore her!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ignore me at your peril,” River threatens, prodding Val’s chest with her gun. “Just how much are you willing to risk?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Val yells for Harry again, but Harry yelps and swears.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then the Doctor’s voice comes through. “Well well well, what do we have here? Breaking and entering?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Who’s that?” Val demands, seeing River’s grin.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River bares her teeth. “That’s my wife.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That baffles them for a moment, at least.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Harry!” Val yells. “What’s going on!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Bit busy just now, Val!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I heard you’ve been messing with my friend’s hardware,” the Doctor’s voice says, with that hard undertone to a soft voice that is typical for this regeneration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s a computer,” Harry scoffs. River pictures them circling each other; the Doctor would never be able to stay still at a moment like this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So?” says the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So we’ve requisitioned it,” Val puts in. “Harry, please just shoot her.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River’s artificial breath catches in her artificial throat; she and Other Dave might be immune to bullets in here, but the Doctor’s real flesh and blood body out there is a different story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But instead of a gun going off she hears the sound of the sonic screwdriver, and then Harry’s voice again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Errr. She’s done something to my gun. It’s shooting soap bubbles.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Harry, how many times have I warned you about those stupid hi-tech weapons!” Val yells, as the Doctor’s laughter echoes through the cockpit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then the laughter stops abruptly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River,” she says slowly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River clears her throat; she thinks she already knows what’s coming. “Yes, sweetie?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You remember Miss Evangelista told me to be careful about the Vashta Nerada?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She swallows. “Yes, sweetie.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor pauses; her screwdriver sounds again. “Something’s turning out the lights.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River yanks the mobile phone out of her pocket and hits the call button. “Miss Evangelista? Are you there? Charlotte needs to beam the Doctor in here <em>now</em>, the shadows are moving!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s no reply.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Miss Evangelista!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Um,” Harry says, a lot less cocky and a lot more worried. “What’s happening?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ohh,” says the Doctor. “Nothing much. We’re just being stalked by carnivorous shadows.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This is some kind of stupid ruse, right?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course it is,” snaps Val, glaring at River.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You see that spacesuit on the floor?” the Doctor says. “They ate the person inside. You may not believe it, but that doesn’t make it not true. Why do you think the planet is abandoned?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Anita</em>, River thinks. Just because there’s an afterlife doesn’t mean remembering her death doesn’t hurt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River?” the Doctor says again. “Any chance of us not getting eaten?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Miss Evangelista!” River tries again, but still, there’s no reply.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She casts around for other ideas, but comes up short. Charlotte is the only one who can operate the transporter. There’s no other way out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Val,” Harry’s voice complains. “This is getting really bloody creepy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Stay out of the shadows!” snaps the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t tell me what to do!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m trying to keep you ali—“</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River can only bear it for a moment. “Doctor?” she calls, trying not to let fear seep into her voice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There’s no reply, and Val glares at her. “If anything’s happened to him… if we’re <em>stuck</em> in here because of you…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River ignores her. “Doctor!” she tries again, failing this time to keep her voice calm and controlled.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other Dave reappears beside her, and he looks at her in concern.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River swallows. “If she’s dead out there,” she says to Val and Baxter, “I swear, I will make you regret it for the rest of your lives. And in here, that could be a very, very long time.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her phone vibrates in her hand, and she instantly  puts it to her ear without bothering to waste time actually moving her arm from one place to another – it just appears in position as she speaks, “Miss Evangelista?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We’ve got them,” Miss Evangelista reports. “Shall we pull you back in?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River’s virtual hearts hammer against her virtual chest. “Yes. Please.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She’s more than happy to leave Val and Baxter looking angry and confused as they fade from her vision.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the house, everyone is huddled around the Doctor, who seems to be in a chattering contest with Charlotte, each regaling the other with their respective side of the story. But the Doctor shuts up abruptly when River walks in, gaping instead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“C’mon guys,” Anita says after a moment. “Let’s give them some space.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River watches them file out of the living room one by one; Other Dave, Proper Dave, Miss Evangelista, Charlotte, and finally Anita, who gives her arm a squeeze before shutting the door behind her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor is staring, uncharacteristically quiet. River doesn’t want to be the first one to speak, but she swings her gun onto her back and does anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hello, sweetie.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River,” says the Doctor, a smile ghosting around the corners of her mouth but not quite, it appears, daring to spread further across her face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What happened to Harry?” River asks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Locked in the basement. Miss Evangelista’s got him under control. She’s come into her own, hasn’t she?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes she has.” River nods. “This place has given her opportunities she never would have had out in the real world.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor takes a breath. “And you?” she asks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River exhales slowly. “I muddle through.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Is muddling through enough?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It has to be, doesn’t it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor opens her mouth, but River has to interrupt before the Doctor responds to the rhetorical question in the wrong way. Especially since River isn’t really sure what the right way would be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I didn’t think I’d see you again.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Slowly, the Doctor nods. “I know.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We said goodbye.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Several times. I know.” She looks at her, so long and hard that River can see all her old selves looking through her eyes. “But I always come when you call, River Song.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River nearly chokes with the sudden stinging behind her eyes. She thinks she’d forgotten that, about the Doctor. How had she forgotten that?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sweetie…” she tries, floundering, feeling all her certainties shift under her feet, like they always do with the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor strides towards her and cups her cheeks in her palms. “River,” she says, searching her face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River struggles with herself for an instant, almost ashamed at how quickly she gives up, how quickly she gives in, how quickly this-could-be-a-bad-idea-think-how-far-you’ve-come-there’s-no-more-future-for-us is shoved aside in favour of throwing her arms around the Doctor and kissing her, feeling her own tears running down her face as she surrenders, surrenders again, the same way she’s always surrendered to the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re going to have to leave again,” River whispers when they come apart, keeping her eyes on the Doctor’s lips rather than her eyes. She knows what the answer will be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River swallows. “I don’t like being a ghost, Doctor.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River…” She strokes her thumb gently over River’s cheek.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You could have just let me die.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor squeezes her eyes shut. “No, I couldn’t.” She shakes her head. “No more than you could let me die on that beach.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I was practically a baby then. You’re a millennia-old Time Lord. It’s not the same thing.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Isn’t it?” she asks gently.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River sighs and presses her forehead against the Doctor’s. “I hate you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I hope you don’t,” the Doctor says, and echoes her sigh, and stabs at her heart. River doesn’t think they’ve ever done this exchange without the Doctor being supremely confident in the response. Perhaps she’s gone too far.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, I don’t,” River says quietly. “I hate this situation. I hate being stuck here without you. I hate having you here in front of me and knowing it won’t last. I hate remembering when I thought we had all the time in the universe, all of time and space. I hate that we don’t.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But we did,” the Doctor says. “Remember? Remember when we went to the end of the universe? Remember—remember Big Bang Two? Remember getting married outside time itself? Remember twenty-four years on Darillium, and we spun them out, and out, and went from one side of time and space to the other… We could have done it forever, River.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River smiles softly. “Why didn’t we, then?” she asks wistfully.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor says something in reply, but the sound is distorted, like listening to someone over a faulty comm link. River frowns, taking a step back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She gasps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s not just the sound that’s distorted; the Doctor herself is a flickering mass of pixels, a stark reminder that she’s not quite real.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The image resolves again after a moment, but she’s not—she’s not <em>she</em>, she’s him, his Twelfth self, frowning his trademark frown.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sweetie?” River essays, even as a pit opens in her stomach. “…Did you do that on purpose?” Maybe thinking about Darillium has had some odd effect…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor shakes his head, looking at his old-man hands, his frown deepening. “Something’s wrong.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River!” Anita bursts in, panting, eyes wide. “He’s escaped! Harry or whatever his name is, he’s <em>gone</em>.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How can that be?” River demands, whirling to face her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miss Evangelista appears, towing Charlotte by the hand – their knuckles are white, River notices. “River, he’s accessed Charlotte’s code, he’s literally rewriting it from the inside. He’s got around the imagery, the house, the lock – he just wrote himself out of it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Back to his friends, no doubt,” River says grimly. She nods at the television. “Charlotte, can you show them to us again?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte freezes, wide-eyed. Then she shakes her head. “I can’t find them,” she squeaks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River curses, crossing to the door to shout down the hall. “Dave! Come here! Both of you!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She turns back to find Charlotte staring at the Doctor, who ventures a smile and a wave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Who are you?” Anita demands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s the Doctor, silly,” admonishes Charlotte, still staring. “I didn’t know you had so many faces.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor flickers again as she says it, a dozen faces replacing each other over the course of two seconds before reverting to his Twelfth. He blinks. “I do. It’s a bit disconcerting, I know.” For him too, no doubt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“The corruption in the code,” Miss Evangelista theorises. “It’s bound to have some odd effects. He’s not rewriting it to make sense, only to make advantages for himself.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We need to stop him,” River says, as the Daves wander into the room. She nods briskly, taking control.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Doctor Moon?” she calls.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But he doesn’t come.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Doctor Moon!” she tries again, already feeling a pit opening in her stomach.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miss Evangelista has pulled up her interface again and is frowning heavily, biting her lip. “He can’t hear you. I think the signal to the moon is being jammed.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Dammit!” River takes a breath, looking around at her team. They’ll have to do without Doctor Moon for now. “Evangelista, see if you can restore whatever code he’s corrupted. Proper Dave, Other Dave, you stay with her. Find somewhere safe to hole up.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What? Where are you going?” Proper Dave demands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“The Doctor, Anita and I will protect Charlotte,” River declares. “Clearly she’s not safe in the house; if Harry can get out, he can certainly get back in. We’ll go into the labyrinth, see if that at least will buy us some time.” She rests a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Okay?” she asks her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte nods. “I’m scared.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River returns the nod. “Scared is good. Scared keeps you alive.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte is unmoved. “River, I’m not alive.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re as alive as any of the rest of us,” River responds. “And I’d like to keep it that way.” She looks around. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They move out, some of them more hesitantly than others. River has to remind herself that for some of them, what they went through in the Library, the physical Library, was their only experience of any kind of serious threat. Meanwhile she’s almost overcome by the memory that this used to be her bread and butter. Oddly, now that their nice little existence has been interrupted, she feels more at home here than she ever has before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s not an entirely pleasant introspection, but it’s definitely true. She can feel adrenaline rushing through her, almost as if it were real, and the fact that the Doctor is by her side again is just the icing on the cake.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita is eyeing her oddly, half distracted as she ushers Charlotte along, and River fights to rein herself in. The safety, possibly even the existence of these people she cars about is at stake, and unlike other companions she’s had they didn’t willingly run into danger with her. All they want is to go back to how things were; River has to try and achieve that, above all else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She shakes her head, instinctively glancing at the Doctor as she does so, and focusses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Outside the house, beyond the garden, she can see the tall hedges of the maze created by Miss Evangelista and the others. Mist covers the top, even though in the garden the sky is still blue. It looks vast and foreboding, and River hopes it lives up to those looks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Where’s the entrance?” she asks Anita.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita is already leading Charlotte determinedly by the hand. “This way.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At the bottom of the garden is a stone wall, and in the wall, looking very out of place, is a heavy-duty steel door. Anita pulls out a key and turns it in the lock, and the door creaks slowly open.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“After you,” she says, gesturing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte looks unsure, so River liberates her hand from Anita and leads her gently inside, the Doctor following close behind as Anita pulls the door shut and locks it again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They look around.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They’re standing on freshly-cut grass, in a space between two impenetrable green hedges that stretch up at least ten metres before vanishing into the mist. Now that the door is locked, it’s also vanished, leaving just the hedges spaced two metres apart and extending into infinity in either direction. There are no turns or gaps to be seen anywhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Anita,” River says. “Can you tell us anything about what we’ve just stepped into?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita nods, looking around. “It’s exactly what you asked for. Every obstacle, every trap, every riddle any of us could think of, they’re all here. I would say it’s actually impossible to get through it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good.” River nods in return. “As it should be.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“There’s always a way out,” the Doctor mutters, narrowing his eyes at the endless hedges.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Without really thinking about it, River chuckles. “Isn’t that my line?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He meets her eyes, and River swallows; suddenly she knows what he’s thinking, and she wonders why it wasn’t her first thought too, the way it usually is. <em>There’s no way out of the Library. Not for me.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the Doctor looks away, and the tension is gone, and all that’s left is the labyrinth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River pulls herself together. “Let’s go then. We need to get as lost in here as we possibly can.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte reaches for her hand as they choose a direction at random and begin to walk along the endless path between the hedges. “I don’t like this,” she complains. “It’s spooky.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s the idea,” Anita assures her, patting her on the shoulder. “We want to creep the bad guys out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So this is a firewall?” the Doctor surmises.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River is taken aback – she realises abruptly that she hasn’t explained. “Yes, sweetie.” She can’t help but add, “I’m surprised you didn’t ask earlier.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I trusted you.” He shrugs, gazing up at where the hedges meet the fog. “Very nice.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“There is actually a wall made of fire in here somewhere,” Anita brags, unaware of how… odd it is, for the Doctor to be so quiet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River looks at him. With everything that’s just happened she hasn’t had time to process any of it properly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And she doesn’t have time now, because the hedge beside them explodes in a cloud of flame and debris not half a metre from where he’s standing, causing them all to jump back and focus all their attention on the big yellow dragon now clawing its way through the hole.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turns to look at them and growls, flames dancing on the sides of its nostrils.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ah,” says Anita. “That’s one of Dave’s.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course it is,” River says, trying to stop the grin spreading across her face as she reaches for the big gun still strapped to her back. She brings it around, aims, and fires, but the beast moves at the last moment, so instead of hitting it between the eyes she only blasts a hole in its wing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The dragon roars, trying to launch itself into the air but impeded by its injury, and lands again awkwardly almost on top of Anita and Charlotte, but the Doctor jumps in front of them and pushes them out of the way, reaching into his pocket and pulling out—nothing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No screwdriver!” he yells at River, so she takes aim again and fires three blasts in quick succession, two in the face and one in the chest, and the towering creature falls to the ground, dead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They all stare for a moment, and then Anita pipes up: “One thing I should probably have mentioned; you can’t just pull objects out of thin air here, or change your appearance at will. What you go in with is what you’ve got.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River hefts her gun. “Well, I’m pretty happy with my choice just now.” She gestures to the smouldering hole in the hedge. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They pick their way gingerly through the ash and the small fires still burning, and find themselves in another corridor bordered by tall hedges, identical to the first. River looks left and right, and then at Anita, who shrugs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Left, River decides, and steps forward.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They walk, and walk, but no more dragons jump out at them. Nothing happens at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They trudge onwards in silence, no one quite knowing how to even start a conversation. River glances at the Doctor now and then, but she never catches him glancing back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At least their feet can’t get sore from the long walk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m bored,” Charlotte complains eventually.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Me too,” says the Doctor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River rolls her eyes, and then realises what she’s doing, and then she wonders how long it’s been since she last rolled her eyes at him. When her eyes find him again, he meets them, and looks like he’s wondering the same thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her hearts <em>hurt</em> all of a sudden, almost as if they were real.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She loses track of them, though, when the Doctor flickers again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte whimpers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s okay, Charlotte,” River says distractedly, trying to convince herself that that’s true. “Sweetie?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m fine,” he says, though his voice modulates through three regenerations just in those two syllables. He looks at his hands; they resolve once more into his Twelfth pair. “Interesting, though.” His hair flashes from floppy to short and back again. “Ha!” He’s almost enjoying himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River…” Charlotte whimpers again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s alright,” River reiterates, turning to her, “Look, he’s fi—“</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte is not fine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charlotte is flickering.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He’s trying to take me away!” she shrieks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Anita,” River says, starting. “Get out of here, and find Miss Evangelista. Go. Now.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anita runs, and River pulls up an interface to show her a visualisation of the code in the main computer core, cursing herself as she does so – Miss Evangelista is much better at this than she is, why the hell did River think it was a good idea to separate her from Charlotte?? – and she shakes her head, seeing chunks of it rewritten before her very eyes, and she swears.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How can I help?” the Doctor asks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River shakes her head. “Let me think.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hold my hand,” Charlotte squeaks. “Please.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor reaches out, and they both start to flicker more intensely. River glances up, and then back at the code. “Not sure that’s a good idea,” she says through clenched teeth. Harry is rewriting code he shouldn’t even have access to, how has he bypassed the firewall, how can he be too clever for Miss Evangelista – how can anyone? He must have found some loophole, some little thing she’s overlooked—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River gasps, swears, looks up, and yells, “Doctor, let go, right now!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But it’s too late. Charlotte flickers once more, and she’s gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River collapses, sitting heavily on the ground, staring at the spot where Charlotte was standing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor is staring too. “River…?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s you,” she says quietly. “Your energy signature. You’re linked to the teleport system, it tracks your location so it can pull you out whenever it’s instructed to. By following you…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor’s eyes widen. “I led him straight to her.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s my fault,” River says. “I should have realised it was a risk, I should have thought about it more, I just—“ She swallows. “I was selfish. I wanted you with me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“River…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He steps towards her, and before she knows it she’s falling into his arms, face pressed against his shoulder, tears seeping into the fabric of his coat. “I hate how much I miss you,” she confesses, squeezing her eyes shut.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He hugs her close, nuzzling her hair. “I know the feeling.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Still?” River asks. “Really?” She has no idea how long it’s been for him. At least one lifetime, she knows.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Always.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She allows herself the luxury of his embrace for a moment longer, but then she pulls away, contenting herself with holding his hand. “We need to get out of here. We have to find Miss Evangelista, she’s our best hope.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Doctor nods. “Lead the way.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>River looks around, up and down the long, endless hedges, and she realises she has absolutely no idea where to go.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Lost in the Library</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>River would much rather be climbing over more lava pits than just walking, endlessly, in this awkward silence that keeps returning between her and the Doctor. She doesn’t remember that ever happening before, in all the long years of their relationship.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>A lot of the obstacles in the maze, they discover, require teamwork in order to overcome them.</p><p> </p><p>Some of them, like the dragon, just need a big gun.</p><p> </p><p>But the ones River admires the most require <em>humanity</em>.</p><p> </p><p>She sees Miss Evangelista’s hand in the way the tasks are formed; none of them are logic puzzles or other questions easily solved by an algorithm with all the Library’s knowledge at its disposal. Everything requires a real person’s touch, a living mind thinking and feeling its way around the problem; and then for that real person to guess Miss Evangelista’s, or occasionally Anita’s, point of view.</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave seems to have mostly restricted himself to monsters, but he clearly enjoyed himself doing so.</p><p> </p><p>It’s perhaps unfortunate that most of the feeling these things force her to do is painful, but she’s been starkly reminded that she’s dead, recently, so being able to feel anything at all is something she’s currently quite grateful for.</p><p> </p><p>As for the Doctor, she can’t quite work out what he’s feeling. There’s a sort of disconnect between the two of them, unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and she wonders if it’s the mismatch between his face and his – or rather <em>her</em>, if she were in the right body – life experience.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s it like, being in the wrong body?” she asks, after they’ve guessed the right answer to a particularly emotionally draining scenario involving a pair of star-crossed lovers. They’re trudging on, having been unable to keep up their earlier urgent pace for more than a few hours.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor looks down at himself, frowning. “Odd. Like putting on a shirt from your teenage days and finding it almost still fits. But it’s not quite <em>me</em> anymore.” He meets her eyes, hesitates, and says, “I like your outfit, by the way.”</p><p> </p><p>River chuckles; she’d forgotten she was still wearing the leather concoction she had imagined for herself to scare Val and Baxter. “You would.” She wonders what Val and Baxter are up to now – nothing good, she suspects.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s true,” the Doctor says. “I like all your outfits.” He flashes her a grin, and she squashes the butterflies trying to rise in her stomach. She doesn’t know how to <em>be</em> with him anymore.</p><p> </p><p>“I always liked you best wearing nothing at all,” she quips, sidestepping the need to pass judgement on his own stupid clothes. Interesting that the clothes have reverted along with his face though, she muses.</p><p> </p><p>“That can always be arranged,” he replies, and reaches up to unbutton is collar before River slaps his hand playfully; honestly, she doesn’t need any other complications from him right now.</p><p> </p><p>She almost wishes he wasn’t there, and then she feels guilty, and then she wonders why she should. He put her here in the first place, never intending to come back himself; why should she feel bad about wanting things to be the way he intended?</p><p> </p><p>And then he suddenly pulls her close, out of the way of a snake launching itself at them from the hedge, and even if her mind isn’t quite sure her virtual body definitely wants his arm right there around her waist, always and forever.</p><p> </p><p>She pulls away from him to aim her gun, angry at herself for failing so badly at suppressing her emotional turmoil when bigger things are at stake. She’s sure she used to be better at this.</p><p> </p><p>She reaches for his hand again once the snake is dead, squeezing perhaps too tightly, but he won’t feel pain anyway, in here.</p><p> </p><p>He squeezes back.</p><p> </p><p>And then a dozen more snakes fall from all directions, and they have to let go again.</p><p> </p><p>River manages to shoot the first couple, but they’re coming too fast, and it’s not long before one is slithering up her leg. She’s sure shooting herself with the gun won’t kill her, but it’s not likely to be helpful either, so she tries to hit the snake with the butt of it instead. It’s too fast for her though, slippery under the large bulk of the weapon, and it climbs father up her body instead.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor grabs it and throws it on the ground, and River stamps on its skull until it’s stopped moving – but not any longer than that, because another one has attached itself to her and the Doctor is fighting off two of them at once.</p><p> </p><p>She grabs at the one trying to wrap itself around his neck and throws it down, stomping down and grinding her heel, but this time there’s no time to check if it’s dead because she has to get the next one off him, and he’s pulling one off her, and they spend at least ten minutes pulling snakes off each other and smashing their skulls.</p><p> </p><p>When they finally stop coming the grass is littered with snake corpses.</p><p> </p><p>“Another one of Proper Dave’s?” the Doctor asks, panting – River never thought to ask Charlotte to help him with that, and now it’s too late.</p><p> </p><p>She focuses. “Most likely. He does like his monsters.”</p><p> </p><p>“Who wouldn’t? Everybody loves a good monster.”</p><p> </p><p>“I definitely love a good monster, but Charlotte hates them.” River sighs helplessly. “I hope he hasn’t lobotomised her or something.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s not possible.” The Doctor shakes his head. “She <em>is</em> the computer. Nothing in here would work without her.”</p><p> </p><p>“He seems to think he can do <em>something</em> to her.” She kicks a dead snake out of her way and starts walking again.</p><p> </p><p>“River. We will get out of here, and we will help her.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, sweetie.” She sighs. “Telling them to make this labyrinth was not one of my brighter ideas.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s genius,” he says, looking genuinely surprised at her statement. “It’s just working too well.”</p><p> </p><p>“And on the wrong people,” she points out.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m quite enjoying it,” he says. “Can’t beat a good labyrinth.”</p><p> </p><p>River smiles. “Do you remember that time on the ice planet of Chastli when we nearly froze to death?”</p><p> </p><p>The look on his face tells her he does before he even answers. “I remember how we kept warm.”</p><p> </p><p>“So warm we melted the ice underneath us and fell into that cave,” River recalls, grinning.</p><p> </p><p>“And then we had to fight off the wolf-bears living there while we were half naked. And they ate my trousers.”</p><p> </p><p>“And you refused to see the funny side.”</p><p> </p><p>“I was cold!”</p><p> </p><p>“Not for long,” River smirks.</p><p> </p><p>Their eyes meet.</p><p> </p><p>“That was a good day,” the Doctor says.</p><p> </p><p>River nods. “Yes, it was.”</p><p> </p><p>“We had a lot of good days.”</p><p> </p><p>She swallows. “Yes, we did.”</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe one day we’ll look back at this and call it a good day.”</p><p> </p><p>And just like that, she’s reminded of where and <em>how</em> they are, now, and her throat constricts. “Maybe.” She nods again, and tries to smile at him.</p><p> </p><p>They walk on, silently, awkwardly. River wonders if the Doctor is feeling as uncomfortable as she is. He must be, surely? He was always more uncomfortable than she was.</p><p> </p><p>Then again, she can’t allow herself to look at him and forget that he’s wearing the wrong face. How different is this current regeneration from the last? She doesn’t really know, she’s barely met any of his faces after this one that he’s wearing; only brief, fleeting impressions while he was asleep in their bed on Darillium and she stole away in the TARDIS while he wasn’t looking…</p><p> </p><p>She misses Darillium. Darillium was the only time her life with the Doctor was ever anything resembling normal, and though River Song would generally scoff at the idea of being normal, she can’t deny how much those twenty-four years centred and grounded her, how much she needed just to <em>know</em> that he could and would stick with her for such a stretch and not get bored, how much she needed the reassurance that he cared for her as much as she did him, that she could have a marriage instead of just an out of order series of encounters.</p><p> </p><p>If she’s honest with herself, it’s not just Darillium she misses, it’s <em>him</em>.</p><p> </p><p>The feeling of missing him even though he’s right there beside her is more familiar than she would like; she remembers slowly losing him to time and their back-to-front experience of it. She remembers him not knowing her at all.</p><p> </p><p>This feels like that. They’re in the wrong place, relative to each other, and she doesn’t think they can ever get back to the <em>right</em> place.</p><p> </p><p>She feels his hand reach again for hers, and he squeezes it as if he knows what she’s thinking. Maybe he does. Maybe he’s thinking the same thing.</p><p> </p><p>She squeezes back.</p><p> </p><p>She wishes they had time to stop and do more than just hold hands, to rediscover each other wholly and completely. Time was one thing they always had, before, in as much abundance as they wanted; what they have now, by contrast, feels like it isn’t real time at all, just some artificial construct like everything else. She used to feel time, breathe time, <em>be</em> time – like with so much else, what she is now pales in comparison.</p><p> </p><p>River tries to pull herself out of this spiral of inner despondency. She isn’t normally so unhappy, here. It’s just because he’s there.</p><p> </p><p>She’s glad when they come across – almost stumble into, in fact – the next obstacle.</p><p> </p><p>She’s the one who pulls him back, this time, inches away from falling into the lava-filled chasm that opens suddenly in front of them and expands rapidly to a width of several metres.</p><p> </p><p>They stand, staring, and she can feel the heat from the bubbling magma even as the chasm’s expansion slows, and eventually halts, leaving ten metres of impassable, orange glow between them and the other side.</p><p> </p><p>“Any ideas?” she asks, holding him tighter than is probably necessary now that he’s standing back from the edge.</p><p> </p><p>He looks around, assessing the situation. “Either we need to climb across somehow, or we need to cool it enough to walk on.”</p><p> </p><p>River looks up at the grey mist which passes for sky in here. “Not likely that we can conjure a blizzard, I would say.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is that thing good for anything other than shooting holes in things?” The Doctor nods at the weapon strapped to her back.</p><p> </p><p>She pulls it forward. “I’m afraid that wasn’t the design specification I was going for at the time.” She looks at it more carefully; it’s an excellent weapon, but that’s all it is. “High-tech sight – magnification, illumination, infrared, all that. Quite hefty, it’d make a good club. Fires high-energy plasma bursts. I wonder…” She aims at the hedge and fires.</p><p> </p><p>The hedge resolutely refuses to show any damage.</p><p> </p><p>“Shame.” The Doctor goes over to inspect the hedge. “It’s not even warm. Probably indestructible. Clever, but a shame.”</p><p> </p><p>River lowers her weapon. “So no, not much help in this situation.”</p><p> </p><p>She meets the Doctor’s eyes, and sighs. They both look again at the lava.</p><p> </p><p>“We’re going to have to climb the hedge, aren’t we,” he states.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t see any other way.”</p><p> </p><p>“Me neither.”</p><p> </p><p>Their eyes meet.</p><p> </p><p>They grin.</p><p> </p><p>“Reminds me of the Byzantium,” River says, walking up to the nearest hedge and testing her weight on the first branch. “Remember that climb?”</p><p> </p><p>“Vividly.” The Doctor stands beside her, looking up. “You were in front of me, as I recall. I had the most spectacular view.”</p><p> </p><p>“I <em>knew</em> you were ogling me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course you did. I always ogle you.”</p><p> </p><p>River laughs, and pulls herself up.</p><p> </p><p>The branches of the hedge make solid hand-holds, but they’re rather more elastic than she would wish. Every time she reaches for a new one her weight pulls it down several feet, so it takes quite a while just to get a reasonable distance off the ground. It’s no easier once she begins to climb sideways; every time she takes hold of the next branch she has to climb upwards again just to maintain the same height. It’s slow going, and she’s glad the inbuilt realism of the Library doesn’t stretch as far as sweat or aching muscles.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor next to her is still grinning though, copying her steps and handholds with calm precision.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re enjoying this,” she comments, chuckling.</p><p> </p><p>He turns his grin on her. “Who wouldn’t? Facing mortal peril with River Song? I always enjoy that.”</p><p> </p><p>River glances down at the lava; the heat has intensified now they’re climbing right over it. “We won’t die if we fall in. I can’t say what would happen, though. Proper Dave or Anita could probably come up with some very inventive kinds of torture. Miss Evangelista’s more practical, she might just take us back to the start of the maze.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor’s expression grows more sombre. “I’m glad you’ve had them for company, in here.”</p><p> </p><p>River pauses. “Me too,” she agrees eventually. “Five other real people is not an awful lot, though.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you’ve got three more now.”</p><p> </p><p>He’s not counting himself, River notices. “Oddly enough,” she reflects, deciding not to mention that detail, “if it were just me, I think I would quite like having a gang of villains to face off against. But this place was built for Charlotte. There’s no place for them in a ten-year-old girl’s sanctuary.”</p><p> </p><p>“We’ll get rid of them,” the Doctor promises.</p><p> </p><p>“We need to get out of here and find them again first.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure Miss Evangelista is devising solutions as we speak.”</p><p> </p><p>“I hope so.” She’s almost at the other side, so she dares to swing to the next branch rather than climb, and she drops neatly onto her feet on the grass verge.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor tries the same thing. He swings and catches himself alright, but when he drops he hits a branch on the way down which knocks him off his path, and he falls past the edge, a surprised expression on his face. River runs to grab for him but misses; thankfully he manages to catch himself on another branch of the hedge before his feet touch the spitting lava below.</p><p> </p><p>“Oops!” he yells.</p><p> </p><p>River lies down flat and stretches her arm over the edge to reach for him. “I thought you left that kind of clumsiness behind with your last body!”</p><p> </p><p>He climbs the few feet necessary for him to grab her hand, and she begins to heave him up. “I’m not quite sure what’s happening to my body right now. But I’m definitely not used to this one anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>“It is quite different in several key areas,” River agrees. She kneels, trying to get a better angle to pull him out onto the verge. “Your new body isn’t as heavy, for one thing.”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you calling me fat? Is this body fat? I don’t remember this body being fat.” He scrabbles onto the grass at last and lies there for a moment.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m calling you quite a lot taller, that’s all.” Mercilessly, she drags him to his feet and looks up at him. “In your real body I’d have to lean down to kiss you,” she points out.</p><p> </p><p>“And I’d have to lean up,” he responds. His eyes twinkle. “That’s kind of sexy.”</p><p> </p><p>“It is,” River agrees, wrapping her arms around his neck.</p><p> </p><p>He leans in to kiss her and she lets him, promising herself she will remember how to exist in the moment and just <em>enjoy</em> ones like these. She used to be able to do it so well; how has she forgotten?</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor pulls back, and the way he looks at her just makes it harder. She misses being looked at like that. She almost wishes he wouldn’t do it.</p><p> </p><p>Almost.</p><p> </p><p>River breaks eye contact, sparing a glance back at the burning chasm before she looks ahead again. There’s nothing there but the same long corridor between the two towering hedges, no sign that they could be anywhere near the end. But they have to keep going.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on,” she says reluctantly. “We don’t know what’s going on out there. We have to keep going.”</p><p> </p><p>They keep going.</p><p> </p><p>River wonders what the purpose is of the long stretches of monotony. Was Miss Evangelista hoping Harry would just get bored and give up? Maybe. Or maybe they designed the maze first and then didn’t have enough obstacles to fill it properly. Either way, River would much rather be climbing over more lava pits than just walking, endlessly, in this awkward silence that keeps returning between her and the Doctor. She doesn’t remember that ever happening before, in all the long years of their relationship; silences were comfortable, intimate, full of shared glances and small touches.</p><p> </p><p>She wants to touch him more. She wants to look into his eyes and know exactly what he’s thinking. But she doesn’t want him to be thinking what she is: that this is temporary, that letting herself fall too far is too dangerous, that this is all going to end with a more painful parting than any she’s endured before.</p><p> </p><p>But she can’t help herself. She doesn’t know if it’s habit or stupidity or recklessness or all three, but she keeps reaching for him, and she can’t refuse him when he reaches for her.</p><p> </p><p>Her hand is in his again and she can’t even remember how it got there.</p><p> </p><p>He squeezes it, and she squeezes back, glad her heart and her lungs aren’t real enough to hurt and struggle like she knows her real ones would.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, she notices that the corridor they’re following is growing narrower. She frowns, but says nothing; not until it suddenly turns and curves and twists, and she looks back and can’t see the way they came.</p><p> </p><p>When she turns around again, there are three other paths branching off from this one.</p><p> </p><p>“This is new,” is all she can think to say.</p><p> </p><p>“You think it means we’re getting closer to the exit?” the Doctor asks.</p><p> </p><p>“Who knows.” River shakes her head slowly. “But if we are, you can bet there are going to be more obstacles before we get there.” She squares her shoulders. “Which way?”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor looks at the paths for a long moment; River has no idea what he’s thinking about for so long, because they all look completely identical.</p><p> </p><p>“This one,” he decides eventually, and steps forward to follow the middle path.</p><p> </p><p>“Any reason for that choice?” River enquires, following.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope.”</p><p> </p><p>Typical. “Okay then.”</p><p> </p><p>This path is a lot narrower than the previous one, and the grey mist of the sky is lower, too, boxing them in. They can barely walk side by side so she lets the Doctor go first, still clasping her hand in his.</p><p> </p><p>They walk in silence again, following the twists and turns of their chosen path. There are no more forks or crossroads, River notices; no more choices. They just have to go on; and so they go on, for another endless and indeterminate amount of time.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s getting darker,” River realises. She slows, looking up; the grey colour like an overcast sky is changing to the grey of a sun setting on the opposite horizon, heading for the darkness of night.</p><p> </p><p>“Could be part of the design,” the Doctor says.</p><p> </p><p>“Hmm.” Picking up the pace again, she shakes her head uncertainly. “Could be a sign of something wrong.”</p><p> </p><p>“We have to keep going,” he states, needlessly.</p><p> </p><p>“I know.”</p><p> </p><p>The light continues to fade as they continue to walk, and River tries not to scream in frustration. The path just keeps going; the only variation is in its random twists and turns. No obstacles, no alternatives, just an endless, darkening tunnel closing in on her.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually it’s pitch black.</p><p> </p><p>“Hold on, sweetie,” River says, and lets go of his hand. She reaches up and pulls her gun forward, fingers searching for the button that will turn on its light.</p><p> </p><p>A narrow white shaft illuminates the hedge in front of her. She turns it on the Doctor, reassured by his apparent solidity even though she knows it’s not real. She aims it up, to examine the darkness overhead that doesn’t even boast a solitary star, and the darkness swallows the light.</p><p> </p><p>“Not sure I’m a fan of <em>that</em>,” she remarks. She nods at the Doctor. “Let’s keep going.”</p><p> </p><p>She takes the lead this time, with one hand guiding the light and the other grasping his hand once more as he trails behind her; she doesn’t want to lose him in the dark.</p><p> </p><p>It’s eerie, walking endlessly along the narrow path with just that one beam of light to show that her surroundings haven’t disappeared completely. She starts to have to fight to keep herself from feeling trapped; somehow the darkness makes the whole situation feel more hopeless, more bleak, more endless. She starts to feel warm, and she can’t tell for the life of her whether she’s imagining it or it’s yet another unpleasant feature programmed into the labyrinth.</p><p> </p><p>She’s about to ask the Doctor if he feels it too when she hears it.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s my job!”</p><p> </p><p>They both freeze.</p><p> </p><p>“Who said that?” she whispers.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh and I’m not allowed to have a career, I suppose,” her own voice calls back to her.</p><p> </p><p>“No,” the Doctor whispers, gaping.</p><p> </p><p>River squints into the distance, then turns off the light. There’s a faint glow coming from around the corner.</p><p> </p><p>“Why am I handcuffed, why do you even <em>have</em> handcuffs?” the Doctor’s voice demands.</p><p> </p><p>“I am going to kill Anita,” River mutters. “No one else could have thought this up. Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>She moves forward, but he doesn’t budge.</p><p> </p><p>“Sweetie.” She turns to face him, and even in the dim light she can see the horror on his face. “It’s not real.”</p><p> </p><p>“It was.” He swallows.</p><p> </p><p>“This is going to kill you! I’d have a chance, you don’t have any!”</p><p> </p><p>River fumes silently, but holds it in. The Doctor doesn’t need her anger right now. “It’s just another puzzle. We just have to do whatever Anita thinks is the right thing.”</p><p> </p><p>“And what would that be?” he says, his voice cracking.</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s find out,” she urges him softly. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>Stiffly, he forces himself to move forward. His grip on her hand is so tight she thinks it could break her virtual knuckles.</p><p> </p><p>They round another corner, and River feels her stomach clench when she sees the scene before her, recreated in every last detail – but then, why wouldn’t it be? The security cameras would have recorded the whole thing… the Doctor, on the floor, pulling desperately against the handcuffs, and herself, making the final preparations for her grand gesture.</p><p> </p><p>Not a gesture, she reminds herself. She saved over 4000 people.</p><p> </p><p>But she’s always been a show-off, and she wonders for the first time why she handcuffed the Doctor <em>there</em>. She doesn’t remember thinking about it overly much at the time, but watching him from this angle it seems cruel. She made him watch – she didn’t have to, she could easily have dragged him around the corner, so he wouldn’t even have know what she’d done until it was all over. So why? Was she grandstanding?</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I wanted him there.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Even though it was this him, his presence was a comfort, and she wanted to say goodbye. And she did so in a way that told him exactly when he would have to do the same. She’s not sure if that was a blessing or a curse, for him. She doesn’t dare to ask.</p><p> </p><p>But she regrets, very much, that this was the beginning for him. He never had a single moment of being able to dream of an infinite future for the two of them. He always knew.</p><p> </p><p>“Spoilers,” the image of River says, and she doesn’t want to watch herself die, doesn’t want to watch his young self being forced to watch, so she turns to look at his face beside her instead.</p><p> </p><p>His eyes are squeezed shut, with a bead of moisture threatening to spill onto his cheek, the bright light of the electric current reflected in it.</p><p> </p><p>River wraps her arms around him. “It’s okay, sweetie. Look, here I am. It’s okay.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor shakes his head wordlessly, and hugs her close.</p><p> </p><p>She closes her eyes, leaning into his embrace, trying to see this moment for the gift that it is. She’s dead, but here he is, with her. It’s enough to make tears sting in her eyes, too, and she doesn’t fight them; she just buries her face in his shoulder and lets the fabric of his coat soak them up.</p><p> </p><p>He flickers, and she starts, momentarily blind from the unexpected light that illuminates the transition to each new face. The arms around her change; young and strong, skinny like the one in handcuffs behind her, old and wiry; and his face cycles three times though all his younger selves, and one older, until it comes to rest again at number Twelve.</p><p> </p><p>River pulls herself together. “That was the worst one yet.”</p><p> </p><p>He nods; swallows. “We need to keep going. We don’t know what’s going on out there.”</p><p> </p><p>They turn, as one, and neither can keep their eyes from resting on the image of River’s charred body.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor tenses, clearing his throat. “What’s the right thing?”</p><p> </p><p>River exhales, trying to focus on the practicalities, but she can’t help the testy tone of her voice. “It’s not about what the right thing is. It’s about what Anita thinks is the right thing.”</p><p> </p><p>“River.” His hand comes gently up to her cheek, turning her face back to look at him. His eyes search hers. “What’s the right thing?”</p><p> </p><p>River clenches her teeth, and makes up her mind. She steps away, reaches down to grab the screwdriver, and jams it into the port.</p><p> </p><p>Their surroundings glow for a moment as the scene fades, revealing two new hedge-lined paths, slightly wider than the one they’ve just come from but still nothing like the wide avenues they started off in.</p><p> </p><p>Then it goes black again. River fumbles with her gun. When she gets the light back on, there’s no trace at all of what they’ve just witnessed.</p><p> </p><p>She directs the beam from one path to the other, but as usual, there are no discernible differences. “Which one?” she asks, making an effort to keep her voice steady.</p><p> </p><p>“Left,” the Doctor says, nodding decisively.</p><p> </p><p>River reaches again for his hand. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>They set off once more.</p><p> </p><p>This new path is wide enough for them both to walk side by side. River finds that oddly comforting. She can’t see much of him in the darkness, but whenever she glances over at him she can make out the determination on his face, and she remembers all the times she saw him save the day. Odds are he will save this one, too, or they’ll do it together.</p><p> </p><p>She always felt like that, she realises. She’d forgotten.</p><p> </p><p>They come to a fork in the path, and then another, and another; the opposite of the long, single path they followed before. River keeps track, and she’s sure the Doctor is too, but she’s very conscious of the fact that this is not a real, physical maze; directions and distances may matter very little. There may be no way to avoid getting thoroughly lost.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor starts to flicker again, and the surprise makes him stumble into the hedge. He settles once more with the same face; River notices him frowning when she goes to pull him upright, and he waves her hand away.</p><p> </p><p>“Feel this,” he says, running his own hand over the hedge.</p><p> </p><p>River reaches out, and frowns too. “It feels flat. Solid.”</p><p> </p><p>He nods, straightening, and looks up again at the darkness overhead. “This simulation is getting less and less detailed.”</p><p> </p><p>“Charlotte must be putting the power into something else.” River follows his gaze upward, and then looks down at her feet. She can’t feel grass under them anymore, she realises; the ground, too, is flat. “I hope this means she’s fighting him.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t see what else it could mean,” the Doctor replies.</p><p> </p><p>“Then I hope she’s winning,” River states. “We should keep going.” She turns – and stops.</p><p> </p><p>Where the path was, moments before, there is now just another hedge. River turns the other way, but even the way they came is cut off.</p><p> </p><p>They’re in a box, surrounded by hedges on all sides, with no exits.</p><p> </p><p>“Shit,” she says.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor looks around and then steps forward, running his hand over the nearest hedge – though they resemble walls now more than hedges, River reflects. Even the optics are deteriorating; they look like two-dimensional pictures of hedges rather than the real thing.</p><p> </p><p>“Could it be another test?” he asks. “Is there some secret way out we have to find?” He continues his meticulous examination of the four sides of their prison, with River lighting his way, but at last he steps back and throws up his arms. “Open sesame?” he tries.</p><p> </p><p>Nothing happens.</p><p> </p><p>“Let me take a look,” River suggests. She hands him the gun so she can have both hands free; he looks uncomfortable, which funnily enough makes her feel comforted.</p><p> </p><p>All of the walls are smooth from top to bottom under her palms. She tries looking for patterns in the shades of green on the walls, experimentally pushing harder against some areas, but nothing changes.</p><p> </p><p>She sighs.</p><p> </p><p>“We might just be stuck,” she declares.</p><p> </p><p>“If I give you a boost, you could climb over the top,” the Doctor suggests, looking up at where the hedge meets the pitch black above them.</p><p> </p><p>River nods her assent; anything is worth a try. She takes the gun and straps it onto her back again, its light still on, and uses the Doctor’s cupped hands to launch herself upwards.</p><p> </p><p>Her head goes through the surface of the darkness above them, and she wants to scream but she seems to have no mouth anymore, no head, no anything, there’s just black and dark and nothing else exists, nothing else has ever existed and nothing ever will…</p><p> </p><p>Her fall to the ground is softened by the Doctor’s arms guiding her, and she finds herself half-sitting by his legs, blinking up at him.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened?” he demands, kneeling down beside her, searching her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>River is shivering. She didn’t even know she <em>could</em> shiver. “Not that way,” she manages. “Nothing good there.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” he says. He lowers himself into a sitting position, propped against the wall, and pulls her into his arms. “It’s okay. We’ll think of something else.” He shrugs. “Maybe even someone else will think of something else; that happens sometimes.” He looks at her again. “Someone could rescue us like you rescued Amy on the Byzantium, when I didn’t believe that you could fix that teleport.”</p><p> </p><p>River smiles, calmer now, and the shivers start to subside. “That was a good one, wasn’t it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course if I had known you better I never would have dreamed of telling you you couldn’t do something.”</p><p> </p><p>“Rubbish,” she scoffs. “You were always telling me I couldn’t do things.”</p><p> </p><p>“Only because they were dangerous.” He tilts his head. “Or scandalous,” he concedes. “I never really believed that you were incapable of them, not after that first time. You could do whatever you damned well pleased. And you usually did.”</p><p> </p><p>“I usually did,” River agrees.</p><p> </p><p>“One of the many things I love about you,” he adds, more softly.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, Doctor,” she sighs. She’s in two minds about whether she even wants to hear this right now; but of course, this could be it. If Harry really is gaining control, he could just delete them both at a moment’s notice. No more afterlife. So perhaps best to say these things while they can. “I love you too,” she whispers, and she twists in his arms to kiss him, and he kisses her back.</p><p> </p><p>They come up for air, the Doctor looking quizzical. “If we can’t feel pain, does that mean I shouldn’t be able to feel arousal? Because I do.”</p><p> </p><p>River laughs, suddenly delighted. “Of course we can feel arousal. And every other pleasurable feeling that goes with it. I made sure of that very soon after arriving here.”</p><p> </p><p>He chuckles along with her. “I should have known. You’ll have to tell me exactly how you made sure of that, sometime.” He nuzzles her neck. “In exquisite detail.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, it’s a date, sweetie,” she breathes.</p><p> </p><p>“I look forward to it,” he growls into her skin.</p><p> </p><p>River sighs, and she brings her hand up to run her fingers across the nape of his neck. He feels so real; the only real thing in this strange, deteriorating place.</p><p> </p><p>She makes a decision, abruptly, to take full advantage of that, and she deftly manages to unstrap her gun and lay it on the ground, kicking it as far away from them as it will go. Of course that means the light is farther away too, but River knows the Doctor inside and out. She doesn’t need to see him.</p><p> </p><p>She does feel a small rush of disappointment that she can’t explore his new body – but perhaps if she could, the lack of light would bother her a lot more.</p><p> </p><p>She closes her eyes and blocks out the last of it.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor’s lips are on hers again, pressing slow, searing kisses across her mouth. She leans into his touch, wrapping her arms around his neck and repositioning herself in his lap. She feels the bulge under his trousers press against her thigh and she grins into his mouth; all that time spent exploring and tweaking the intricacies of the Library’s programming was worth it for this alone, she decides.</p><p> </p><p>She feels his lips curl into a grin as well, feels his arm snake around her waist and pull her closer. She hums into his mouth and runs her fingers through his hair, scoring his scalp with her fingernails, gently marking her initials on his skin.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor’s fingers dance up the front of her jacket, reaching for the zip and following its progress downwards with soft kisses pressed to the bare skin he is revealing inch by inch. She’s not wearing anything underneath – no need for virtual underwear – and she half-opens her eyes again to watch his awed expression as he brings both hands back up to push the jacket off her shoulders.</p><p> </p><p>River gets to work on his clothes, knowing they’re likely to be more complicated. The coat slips to the ground easily, but then comes the waistcoat with all its buttons, and then the shirt with all <em>its</em> buttons, and River rolls her eyes after a minute and pulls the shirt open, causing buttons to go flying into the shadows and the Doctor to protest indignantly: “That’s my favourite shirt!”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s not real, sweetie,” River reminds him, reaching out to run her hands over his chest. She bends her head to kiss him again and swallows his response, grinning again at the annoyed tone of his mumbling. River deliberately rubs herself against him as she repositions herself, and suddenly the mumbles sound a lot more friendly.</p><p> </p><p>“River,” he whispers when she lets him go, and he cups her breasts reverentially, running his thumbs over her nipples.</p><p> </p><p>“Sweetie,” she murmurs in return. She reaches for his hands and stands, pulling him to his feet; then she sinks down again, taking his trousers and underwear with her and looking up at him with a wink.</p><p> </p><p>His erection is right at her eye level and she can’t resist caressing him with her tongue, running it roughly along his length and back again, but he tugs at her hands and pulls her back up, covering her mouth again briefly with his before whispering, “We don’t know how much time we’ve got.”</p><p> </p><p>She nods; he’s right. “We’d better get a move-on, then.” She smirks, pushing him back down to sit against the wall and kicking her shoes off into a dark corner. Hooking her thumbs in her waistband, she peels her trousers off and throws them away as she kneels down and straddles him, looking into his eyes and at the small pinpricks of light reflected there, and she guides him inside her.</p><p> </p><p>They moan in unison and River smiles, bringing her hands up to rest on his shoulders even as his are placed firmly at her waist, and she begins to move.</p><p> </p><p>She never thought she would get to experience this with him again, and she has to lean forward and whisper in his ear than she loves him, again and again, and he whispers it back, and they pick up the pace, until their breath grows ragged and neither of them can even utter those three words in a row without them catching in their throats, and some how she means it <em>more</em> with every repetition.</p><p> </p><p>And suddenly she finds it again, she <em>finds</em> it, she remembers how to take everything she can get and lock it into her heart forever to guard against the inevitable heartbreak. She drinks it in, every touch, every sigh, every burning, tender look in his eyes, storing it away, letting it flow through her and fortify every part of her being.</p><p> </p><p>And she feels like River Song.</p><p> </p><p>Her orgasm is perfect, and she cries out with something more than just pleasure, something more akin to pure joy. The Doctor cries out as well, simultaneously, and they climb down slowly, long, satisfied sighs escaping each of them in turn.</p><p> </p><p>River reaches up and strokes his hair, smiling tenderly. His hands on her bare hips tighten, and he smiles back.</p><p> </p><p>And he flickers.</p><p> </p><p>River flinches, and not just because of the sudden bright light that accompanies his changing appearance. She feels bereft, like the end of something special has been taken away from her, reminding her cruelly of their predicament.</p><p> </p><p>She loses count this time of the number of cycles he goes through before the flickering finally stops, and when eventually it does, she gasps.</p><p> </p><p>He’s younger again.</p><p> </p><p>He looks shocked too, taking his hands off her and squinting at them in the dim light. “Which one am I?” he mutters, but he looks back up at her, eyes wide, before she can answer. “Oh!”</p><p> </p><p>He grins that boyish grin that belongs only to this incarnation, and River relaxes, relieved; the moment hasn’t been taken away, only interrupted.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello,” says number Eleven, his voice every bit as full of wonder as it always was.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello, sweetie,” River chuckles.</p><p> </p><p>They sit there, still pressed against each other in the dark, smiling at each other. The Doctor pulls gently at a curl of her hair and watches it spring back. “Ha.” He meets her eyes again. “Where were we?”</p><p> </p><p>“Right here,” River whispers, and kisses him again.</p><p> </p><p>This version of him feels like she remembers, too, all old energy in that young body, his warm hands worshipful on her skin. Their kisses are leisurely, now, their frantic energy spent so they can enjoy the little things.</p><p> </p><p>Until the Doctor pulls away from her and says, “River.”</p><p> </p><p>His tone has her instantly alert. “What?”</p><p> </p><p>“You know you said if we died in here we’d probably be taken back to the start.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” she says slowly.</p><p> </p><p>“The start – that would be the <em>outside</em> of the maze, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Their gazes both sweep across the ground to rest on her gun.</p><p> </p><p>“Shoot me,” he says. “And then shoot yourself.”</p><p> </p><p>“A suicide pact, eh?” River jokes wryly, but she understands exactly what he’s saying. It might even work.</p><p> </p><p>He looks pained, but he nods once, slowly. “Of a sort.”</p><p> </p><p>River sighs, and echoes his nod. She gets to her feet, and offers him a hand up. “Alright.”</p><p> </p><p>They get dressed probably more slowly than they need to, not too eager to leave their little cell of isolation all of a sudden.</p><p> </p><p>His clothes have changed, she realises, to match his body. She zips up her jacket and goes to help him with his bowtie, slapping his hands away gently so she can tie it properly. His hands meet behind her waist, instead, and he distracts her by kissing from her temple down to her jaw while she works.</p><p> </p><p>Once the bowtie is smooth she brings her arms up around his neck again for one more, lingering kiss.</p><p> </p><p>“Figures it would be this face I’ve got to shoot,” she comments, resting her forehead against his.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” he says, and she hears the smile in his voice. “It worked out okay last time.”</p><p> </p><p>Debatable, but she’ll take it.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, then,” she sighs, letting go and picking up the gun. She pulls the strap over her shoulder and aims at his chest. “Ready?”</p><p> </p><p>“Always.”</p><p> </p><p>River nods. She fires.</p><p> </p><p>And he’s gone. Just like that.</p><p> </p><p>She turns the gun around, and fires again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Battle of the Library</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>River finds herself standing next to a brilliantly illuminated hedge.</p><p>That’s it. Just the hedge, and a lot of gleaming white nothingness extending in all other directions.</p><p>She jumps when she hears the Doctor call her name, and turns to find him standing, grinning, right beside her.</p><p>“Progress, I think?” he says gleefully, rubbing his hands.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>River finds herself standing next to a brilliantly illuminated hedge.</p><p> </p><p>That’s it. Just the hedge, and a lot of gleaming white nothingness extending in all other directions.</p><p> </p><p>She jumps when she hears the Doctor call her name, and turns to find him standing, grinning, right beside her.</p><p> </p><p>“Progress, I think?” he says gleefully, rubbing his hands.</p><p> </p><p>“Of a sort,” she acknowledges. She takes another look around, but that’s really all there is – the whiteness, the hedge, the Doctor. “What next?”</p><p> </p><p>He shrugs. “Follow the hedge, or walk away from the hedge?”</p><p> </p><p>“Walk away,” she says instantly. “I’ve had enough of hedges for one afterlife.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor doesn’t argue; he just turns away from the hedge and motions into the distance. “After you.”</p><p> </p><p>River rolls her eyes and takes his arm. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>They haven’t gone far before she hears someone else calling her name, and they turn back to see Other Dave running toward them. River sinks a little in relief.</p><p> </p><p>“River!” Other Dave calls again, catching up to them. “And… the Doctor? Maybe?”</p><p> </p><p>“Correct,” the Doctor says, inclining his head.</p><p> </p><p>“We’ve been waiting for you,” Other Dave says.</p><p> </p><p>He pulls what looks like an ordinary rock from his pocket and sets it on the ground; instantly, a hole appears in the white space, and River steps forward to find herself looking down at a swimming pool.</p><p> </p><p>Other Dave waves them forward. “Jump in,” he says, grinning.</p><p> </p><p>River looks at the Doctor, and shrugs.</p><p> </p><p>He tugs her forward and they both jump, together.</p><p> </p><p>They splash into the pool and River fights her way to the surface just in time to see Other Dave jump through the hole after them, grabbing the rock on his way down and pulling the portal above them shut.</p><p> </p><p>He hits the water next to her and she shields her eyes, so it’s not until the ripples start to subside that she really starts to take in her surroundings – which are, frankly, just as bizarre as the ones they’ve just left.</p><p> </p><p>The sky is blue – but so is almost everything else. She climbs out of the pool onto what looks more like the sky than a floor. There are some picnic tables scattered around in the blueness, but no buildings or walls or even a horizon. Just a blue void around a swimming pool and some furniture.</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave and Anita are sat at a table, but they leap to their feet when they see River and the Doctor climbing out of the water. Miss Evangelista stays where she is at another, typing rapidly into the interface in front of her.</p><p> </p><p>“We were wondering when you’d figure it out,” Anita says, laughing as she walks towards River and pulls her into a hug.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, it took us too long,” River admits. If she hadn’t been so distracted she would have worked it out a lot sooner, she’s sure. “What’s the situation?”</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave nods at where Miss Evangelista is working. “We’re partitioned off from the main hard drive. Should be safe for us in here. If you’re wondering why it’s a bit simple,” he nods at the void around them, “it’s to save computing power. In fact…” He glances at Anita, who nods; together, they walk to the side of the pool and lift what proves to be a cover. When it’s unrolled across the length of the pool, the only thing that delineates it from the rest of the void is a thin, black line outlining its rectangular shape.</p><p> </p><p>“River. Doctor,” Miss Evangelista calls in greeting, finally looking up from her interface; though not, River notices, slowing the speed of her typing.</p><p> </p><p>“You heard what happened to Charlotte,” River says, strolling toward her. The Doctor crouches to examine the invisible swimming pool before following.</p><p> </p><p>“We did indeed.” Her gaze returns to the interface. “I’m trying to copy some of her subroutines into the partition. If I succeed, we should be able to regain access to some of the Library’s systems. Currently I’m trying to find a way to gain control of the teleport function so that I can put them all back in the physical Library.”</p><p> </p><p>That gets River’s attention; the Doctor’s, too. They crowd closer, both looking over her shoulder at the display of the interface. “You can do that?” River asks.</p><p> </p><p>“I believe so. The problem will be neutralising the physical threat they’ll pose when we rematerialise them.”</p><p> </p><p>“What about me?” the Doctor asks. “Can you rematerialise me, too?”</p><p> </p><p>“That should be unproblematic.” Miss Evangelista nods. “I’m still working on how to rematerialise the rest of us.”</p><p> </p><p>“You… what?” River says.</p><p> </p><p>“The ship that brought us here is still in orbit, intact. It will have stored the records of our own original teleport down to the planet. I think I can use that data and merge it with what’s stored in the Library to create files which will allow me to teleport us back into the physical world, where we would then outnumber our adversaries.”</p><p> </p><p>River and the Doctor both stare. Gaping, River looks back at Anita and the two Daves. “You knew about this?”</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave and Other Dave shrug. “Seems like our best shot,” Anita says.</p><p> </p><p>“You really think this will work?” River turns back to Miss Evangelista.</p><p> </p><p>“For the four of you, yes. For myself, perhaps not. I don’t know if I’ll be able to line my physical parameters up to meet the requirements of my augmented intellect. I may need to stay behind.” She looks up. “Of course, I may be more use in here anyway. Somebody should stay.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Not me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>River is surprised by the ferocity of the thought. Suddenly she feels trapped again, more trapped than she’s felt in a long time, and she itches to get out, now that she knows it’s possible, to get out <em>now</em>.</p><p> </p><p>“How long do you think this will take you?” she asks, pushing that new desperation down to the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind.</p><p> </p><p>“I need to contact Doctor Moon. That part is the most difficult – they’re still jamming the signal.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can help with that!” The Doctor practically vaults across the picnic bench to sit down next to Miss Evangelista, and nods at her interface. “How do you pull that up?” he asks, waving his hands in front of him; the interface appears instantly and River smirks at the joy on his face as he takes it in. His fingers immediately begin typing away at a speed to rival Miss Evangelista’s. “The TARDIS can pick up all kinds of bandwidths that your average computer can’t, they’re probably not all blocked… ah!” he shouts triumphantly. “Rerouting the signal to Doctor Moon… there!” the interface disappears; he turns to Miss Evangelista. “Try it now.”</p><p> </p><p>Miss Evangelista raises an eyebrow; a moment later she raises the other one, too. “I’ve made contact. Sending instructions.”</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave, Other Dave and Anita are crowding around the table now, too; everybody apart from Miss Evangelista is rigid with tension – especially the Doctor, River notices. For the first time, River is bothered by the fact that there’s no sound when Miss Evangelista types, her fingers flying across her virtual keyboard. Everything is deathly silent as they watch her.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, she nods. “Files received.”</p><p> </p><p>The others crowd still closer, and Miss Evangelista glances up to see them all looking at her expectantly.</p><p> </p><p>“This may take some time,” she states.</p><p> </p><p>The others deflate; Other Dave claps a hand on Proper Dave’s shoulder, and they and Anita disperse. River looks back at the Doctor; he’s still looking over Miss Evangelista’s shoulder, utterly enraptured by whatever he sees there. She considers joining them, but she knows Miss Evangelista is perfectly capable of doing this by herself. So she turns, and goes to sit at the other table with Anita and the two Daves.</p><p> </p><p>They all stare at her.</p><p> </p><p>River stares back, but none of them look away. “What?” she demands eventually.</p><p> </p><p>“You might finally get what you wanted,” Anita says. “The Doctor back.” She nods at where he’s sitting, his back to them. “Your life of adventure back.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s what you’re all thinking about?” River deflects. “What about the rest of you? We could all walk out of here alive. Where would you go?”</p><p> </p><p>Proper Dave shrugs. “I dunno. I kind of like it here. When we’re not under attack. Y’know, which is normally.”</p><p> </p><p>Other Dave is nodding in agreement. Anita speaks up: “I always preferred dead people to live ones. That’s why I went into archaeology in the first place.”</p><p> </p><p>“Seriously?” River gapes. “You would just stay here? All of you? Just like that?”</p><p> </p><p>“Why not?” says Other Dave. “It’s nice. It’s safe. It’s endless. And you can’t die.”</p><p> </p><p>River is speechless. She shakes her head, slowly. “That’s… wow.”</p><p> </p><p>“We’re not like you, River,” Anita says, not unkindly. “You want to go out there and have adventures. You don’t like it here because you’re an adrenaline junkie. We’re happy to be somewhere as comfortable as this. Anyway, we’ve been here so long, the people we cared about out there will have moved on decades ago. They might even be dead.” She glances again at the Doctor. “We don’t all have time travelling husbands mourning us forever.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wife,” River corrects, for lack of anything better to say. “She’s not… <em>him</em> anymore, exactly.” And River should remind herself of that, she supposes. It’s difficult, with the Doctor looking and sounding like this so-much-younger self.</p><p> </p><p>“Doesn’t matter.” Anita is dismissive. “The way she looks at you is always the same.”</p><p> </p><p>“You should go, River,” Other Dave puts in. “If we get the chance. You should go, even if the rest of us stay.”</p><p> </p><p>“Trying to get rid of me now, are you?” she jokes, but her hearts aren’t in it.</p><p> </p><p>Anita squeezes her hand. “We would never. But we all know you’ve had a harder time adapting to the Library than any of us.”</p><p> </p><p>River stands abruptly. She doesn’t want to think about this. She doesn’t want to dare to <em>hope</em>… and at the same time, doesn’t want to admit that she wants to hope. Better to put it all away until later.</p><p> </p><p>“I need to <em>do</em> something,” she complains, striding back over to where Miss Evangelista and the Doctor are huddled together, fingertips dancing over parallel interfaces. “What can I do?”</p><p> </p><p>“Strategise,” the Doctor says instantly, without looking at her. “We get the teleport working, we all get out of here, then what? Which of the teleport pads do we want to use, who do we send where, how do we keep our advantage?” He spares her a glance. “We want the best fighter in charge, and that’s definitely you.”</p><p> </p><p>River nods. “Thank you.” For the task, not just the compliment – but she thinks he gets that. She nods again, to herself, and turns to wander a little way off from the others, settling into a sitting position in the blue.</p><p> </p><p>He’s right, of course, that she’s the best fighter – but she wonders if she’s as good as she once was. She feels beyond rusty; the lack of mortal peril in here has made her soft. But even given that, the others are softer. Even the Doctor. And Harry, Val and Baxter are <em>dangerous</em>.</p><p> </p><p>They’ll be most dangerous near the data core, so teleporting them in anywhere near there is immediately out of the question. There are teleport pads present throughout the Library. There are also, apparently, Vashta Nerada present throughout the Library. On top of that, she’s not quite sure what they’re supposed to do with their three opponents once they’re in physical form again. Hand them over to the authorities? Handing them over to the shadows would be easier, but she knows the Doctor would never approve of that.</p><p> </p><p>They must have come here on a ship of their own, but sending them directly there would be too risky. She has no idea what kind of weapons they might have on board, for one thing. There’s the archaeologists’ own ship, of course, still sitting in orbit with at least some systems apparently functioning, but that’s still too risky. Too many variables.</p><p> </p><p>She sighs, deciding that she’ll have to accept taking these people into the TARDIS. Another of her homes to be invaded by them. Not ideal, but necessary.</p><p> </p><p>So. Move them from the teleport pad to the TARDIS. A to B. Should be straightforward, right?</p><p> </p><p>Except that on their team they’ve got two dangerous killers and a computer genius, and on her team she’s got some scared archaeologists and the Doctor.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor is going to have to earn her keep.</p><p> </p><p>The TARDIS is parked in the atrium. The atrium has windows, hopefully sunlight, which should help at least with the Vashta Nerada. The atrium also has very few places to hide, should things not go to plan. And things never go to plan.</p><p> </p><p>But there isn’t a better alternative.</p><p> </p><p>Miss Evangelista sighs, and River turns to see the Doctor wearing that expression he has where he looks like a toddler about to have a temper tantrum because he can’t get what he wants – a sort of glowering pout.</p><p> </p><p>“What is it?” she asks, walking back over.</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t integrate my data ghost with my physical data, there are too many differences,” Miss Evangelista says, shaking her head. “I’ll have to stay here.”</p><p> </p><p>“That may not be a bad thing,” River points out. “Someone has to keep an overview of the situation. You can pull us out if things don’t go to plan.”</p><p> </p><p>“That is true,” the Doctor acknowledges, reluctantly.</p><p> </p><p>“And things never go to plan where he’s involved,” she adds, pointedly, when he continues to pout.</p><p> </p><p>“Oi!” At least he looks up, and his expression changes to one of affront. “What is the plan, anyway?”</p><p> </p><p>“Without Miss Evangelista…” River suppresses a sigh, despite her own reassurances – she really could have used another person with a brain, no offence to the others. “I think you need to split us up. Me with Val; I think she’ll be the most dangerous out in the real world. The Doctor with Baxter – and you’d better be careful,” she warns him, shooting him a look, “—and the other three to overpower Harry. There are teleport pads in the rooms off each corner of the atrium. Choose whichever are closest to the TARDIS, and we drag the three of them in there and drop them in a nice prison somewhere.” She allows herself the sigh, this time. “Other than that, there’s nothing much to plan that won’t change the moment we materialise and remember what the real world is like. Unpredictable and merciless.” She looks at Miss Evangelista. “How soon can you teleport the rest of us?”</p><p> </p><p>“Five minutes.” Miss Evangelista asserts. “I just want to run a diagnostic on the teleport software to make sure Harry hasn’t put anything nasty in the code – though he would be trapped here himself, if he did that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay.”</p><p> </p><p>River nods, turns, and wanders back into the blue, too tense with anticipation to stand around and wait while Miss Evangelista applies the finishing touches.</p><p> </p><p>She wonders how far the blue extends. Could she just walk on forever? Would she end up back where she started eventually?</p><p> </p><p>River walks.</p><p> </p><p>The prospect of being flesh and blood again is exciting and terrifying at the same time. It’s something she’s dreamed about to such a degree that now that it’s happening it seems unreal. And what if things don’t go to plan? What if the Vashta Nerada jump on her as soon as she materialises and finish her off?</p><p> </p><p>What if it doesn’t work at all? What if Miss Evangelista fails, and the moment of anticipation just becomes a moment of disappointment?</p><p> </p><p>She’s honestly not sure which of the two scenarios is worse.</p><p> </p><p>“River?”</p><p> </p><p>She starts, and spins on her heel to see the Doctor, following her.</p><p> </p><p>“Sweetie,” she says, letting a smile cross her lips.</p><p> </p><p>“How are you doing?” he asks, stepping closer.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“River.” He shakes his head, and reaches for her hand before he looks back up at her. “You know what I mean. If this works…”</p><p> </p><p>“If this works, what?” she asks. Because this, actually, is the crux of the matter. Because she has no idea how the time the Doctor has spent apart from her has affected her feelings for River. It’s all very well flirting and kissing inside the data core when the assumption is that they’ll have to part again; if that assumption is void, that’s a whole different kettle of fish. If this works, what happens to <em>them</em>?</p><p> </p><p>“If this works, the universe is your oyster,” the Doctor says, spreading his arms wide with River’s hand still in his. “Have you thought about what you might do?”</p><p> </p><p>River looks at him, smiling at her, but she can’t deal with this level of possibility just now. She can’t let this overwhelm her when she’s about to lead them all into battle. “No,” she lies. “No, I haven’t.”</p><p> </p><p>His face falls, and just that change in his expression gives rise to a hope in her hearts burning so fiercely that it hurts. But no words will come; no words that don’t threaten to bring the world crashing down around her, Miss Evangelista’s efforts be damned.</p><p> </p><p>So she tugs on his hand to pull him closer, and she straightens his bowtie, and she kisses him.</p><p> </p><p>Secretly she’s always enjoyed kissing this version of him the most. She’s not sure why it is – maybe just because she <em>has</em> kissed him the most. She’s pleasantly surprised to find that this kiss doesn’t feel strange, or different, just because it’s a different version of the Doctor inhabiting this body. She feels his longing more clearly than any words could express, in the hungry way his lips meet hers, in his arm snaking around her waist and holding tight; in the soft whimper that escapes him when they part.</p><p> </p><p>She rests her head on his shoulder, and he pulls her close.</p><p> </p><p>And suddenly something’s – different.</p><p> </p><p>River pulls back, frowning, and sees, not his eleventh face, but number Ten looking back at her. She barely has time to process that before she realises their surroundings have changed, too, completely; instead of the shapeless blue, they’re standing in a saloon straight out of a cowboy movie. Anita and the Daves are at a table nearby, staring at the menacing looking patrons around them. Miss Evangelista is sitting at the bar, her gaze sweeping the room until she spots River and the others.</p><p> </p><p>She brings her interface back up. “The diagnostic must have tripped something – he’s realised what we’re trying to do – now he’s trying to distract me.” A distraction which isn’t working, at least – she’s hyperfocussed on whatever she can see in front of her. “He’s putting firewalls up. I’m trying to break through. If I get the chance to teleport, I’ll take it.”</p><p> </p><p>River dives in front of her just in time to divert a scowling cowboy from smashing a bottle over Miss Evangelista’s head. “Please do,” she says, punching him in the face.</p><p> </p><p>Every other person in the saloon stands up simultaneously, and River feels the rush of adrenaline flow through her virtual veins.</p><p> </p><p>It’s been a while since she’s been in a fist fight, and she’s a bit distracted watching the Doctor flail around in yet another no-longer-familiar body, but she manages to fight them all off with a fair amount of flair, if she says so herself.</p><p> </p><p>She kicks the last one in the jaw and falls back, the others in a semicircle behind her. She’s halfway through the start of a grin when she finds herself standing on a field of bones.</p><p> </p><p>The Bone Meadows, she realises, just before the skeletons rise and begin to attack.</p><p> </p><p>“Form a circle around Miss Evangelista!” she shouts, grabbing a sturdy looking femur from the ground to use as a club.</p><p> </p><p>Skeletons of all shapes and sizes converge on them, grinning toothily – well, they can hardly do anything else, she supposes. The Doctor seems to be getting a grip on himself and has armed himself with half of something’s jaw; the rest of the team are holding makeshift weapons, too.</p><p> </p><p>The skeleton of a huge reptile stomps towards River, opening its jaw ready to pounce, and she hits it so hard its head comes off.</p><p> </p><p>And suddenly they’re underwater, surrounded by sharks.</p><p> </p><p>“Seriously?” the Doctor says.</p><p> </p><p>River looks around for some kind of weapon, but there’s nothing – just water, and imminent pointy teeth.</p><p> </p><p>“There!” says Miss Evangelista triumphantly.</p><p> </p><p>And River is standing on a teleport pad, and Val is standing beside her.</p><p> </p><p>Only the fact that River had about half a second to prepare for this saves her from being instantly dead again. Val pulls a gun but River rushes her before she can aim, knocking her off the teleport pad beside her, and they both stumble into a bookshelf. Books rain down on them; River tries to ignore them, still concentrating on the gun.</p><p> </p><p>She grabs Val’s wrist but the other woman twists her arm and drives her elbow into River’s ribs. It’s all River can do not to let go as she cries out, but the smug look on Val’s face is enough to drive River to grit her teeth and, still holding her wrist for all she’s worth, pull her off balance and kick her legs out from under her.</p><p> </p><p>River stomps on the wrist she’s holding and Val finally lets go, cursing. River takes the clip out of the gun and throws it into the shadowed aisle of shelves – shadows, she mustn’t forget about the shadows – and tucks the gun into her spacesuit.</p><p> </p><p>A whole new, identical spacesuit to replace the one she incinerated. A whole new body, ditto.</p><p> </p><p>Val tries to take advantage of her distraction by aiming a swift kick to her knee, but River isn’t stupid enough to get <em>that</em> distracted. She dodges around Val’s foot and aims a kick of her own which leaves Val cursing again; before she can catch her breath, River fishes the handcuffs out of her pocket.</p><p> </p><p>She’s cuffed one wrist when she hears the Doctor cry out; she fights her instinct to immediately turn her head and look for her, and cuffs Val to a sturdy-looking bookshelf instead.</p><p> </p><p>Then she takes off at a run in the direction of the Doctor’s voice.</p><p> </p><p>She barges through the open door and finds herself running across one end of the atrium; movement at the other end makes her turn her head, tensing, but it’s just Anita and the Daves, dragging Harry across the floor. They at least are doing okay.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor shouts again. Of course it’s the Doctor who’s in trouble. When is it not?</p><p> </p><p>River sprints across the floor to another door identical to the one she came from, her footsteps echoing through the large space. She makes herself stop before she enters the next room, and she flattens herself against the wall and peers through the doorway.</p><p> </p><p>As it turns out, it’s not exactly the Doctor who’s in trouble.</p><p> </p><p>Baxter is standing in a pool of light underneath a flickering lamp, terrified.</p><p> </p><p>“Stay there!” the Doctor yells.</p><p> </p><p>River turns to see her wife fiddling with the teleport controls and her screwdriver. “Vashta Nerada?” she guesses, training the squareness gun on Baxter and fishing for her own screwdriver with her spare hand. She’d come well equipped on this trip, she reflects – for all the good it did her.</p><p> </p><p>She steps into the room to aim the screwdriver at the lamp and manages to boost the brightness, but the shadows around Baxter are definitely darker than they should be.</p><p> </p><p>“Vashta Nerada,” the Doctor confirms. “I’m trying to teleport him out, but it’s blocking me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Probably Miss Evangelista,” River speculates. “She wouldn’t want Harry to be able to just beam them all back in again.”</p><p> </p><p>“Very sensible.” The Doctor nods. “Very inconvenient just now, though.”</p><p> </p><p>Satisfied that she’s done everything she can to boost the lights, River turns her screwdriver on the control console as well. “Maybe I can help.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor grins, and holds her screwdriver up. “Mine’s the newer one, now.”</p><p> </p><p>River smirks. “You’ll have to give me an upgrade,” she replies.</p><p> </p><p>“How did it go with Val?”</p><p> </p><p>“Handcuffed her to the bookshelf. What happened with him?”</p><p> </p><p>Her wife nods at Baxter, who is glaring at her and clearly trying not to look like he needs their help. “He materialised right in the middle of taking a big bite out of a chicken leg. Dropped it when I startled him and started to run; good thing, too, or they might have just eaten us instead of the chicken.” She nods upwards. “The light is keeping them at bay for now, but he’s surrounded.”</p><p> </p><p> River nudges the Doctor over as she steps closer to the controls, and tries to ignore the tingling sensation that comes from <em>actually touching her actual wife in real life</em>. She studies the console, but it’s clear the Doctor has tried everything River can think of, so she steps back again. “I’ll go back out to the atrium, see if I can talk to Miss Evangelista via the—“</p><p> </p><p>She’s interrupted by the sound of four rapid footsteps echoing on the marble floor across the room, followed immediately by something clattering to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>River and the Doctor turn, slowly, to see a skeleton lying a few metres from where Baxter was standing.</p><p> </p><p>River sighs, shaking her head. “Why are they always <em>idiots</em>?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know.” The Doctor is frowning, but she’s already stepping away from the console and pocketing her screwdriver. “We should go, though, before we’re next.”</p><p> </p><p>“Excellent plan, sweetie.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor grabs her hand and they run for the door.</p><p> </p><p>Back in the atrium, River spots Anita, Proper Dave, and Other Dave manhandling Harry into the TARDIS – at least their part of the plan seems to be going smoothly. “Let’s go and get Val,” River says. “And then we can get out of here.”</p><p> </p><p>The pace she sets to the other room is quick – but it becomes a lot quicker when she hears a gunshot.</p><p> </p><p>“Dammit!” she says, pocketing her screwdriver again so she can have both hands free to use the squareness gun. “I should have know she would have more than one weapon.” She slows again as she reaches the doorway, with the Doctor right behind her, and peers back in to the room she’s just left.</p><p> </p><p>One cuff is still attached to the bookshelf. The other, possibly still attached to Val, is nowhere to be seen.</p><p> </p><p>Cautiously, River steps inside.</p><p> </p><p>The room contains aisles and aisles of shelving. Too many places to hide. River casts her gaze over the teleport pad and its controls, and the desk standing close by, but there’s no one there. She’s reminded once again that Val is definitely not stupid.</p><p> </p><p>She and the Doctor exchange glances, and River gestures for the Doctor to stay back before she approaches the closest shelves.</p><p> </p><p>She hasn’t taken more than three careful steps before Val steps out and shoots her in the gut.</p><p> </p><p>Instinctively River fires back, and the squareness gun opens a hole under Val’s feet through which she falls out of sight, her second shot landing in the ceiling and causing bits of plaster to rain through the hole after her.</p><p> </p><p>River looks down at herself to survey the damage – and there is definitely damage. From the positioning and the lack of an exit wound, the bullet is probably lodged somewhere in her stomach.</p><p> </p><p>She finds, to her mild surprise, that a slow smile is spreading across her face.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing the blood seep into the white fabric of her spacesuit makes her feel suddenly, wonderfully <em>alive</em>.</p><p> </p><p>She stumbles, and immediately the Doctor’s hands are under her arms, guiding her gently to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>“How bad is it?” the Doctor asks – redundantly, River thinks. She must be able to see for herself.</p><p> </p><p>Still. “Fairly bad,” River gasps.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” the Doctor says, panicky. “Okay. You’re okay, I’m going to go out into the atrium and talk to Miss Evangelista, and she can just beam you back in.”</p><p> </p><p>She goes to stand, but River grabs her arm. “No.”</p><p> </p><p>Their eyes meet, and River knows the Doctor knows what she’s thinking.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor shakes her head. “River, if you don’t go back into the data core, you could die. Really die.”</p><p> </p><p>River smiles, lifting her hand to stroke her fingers over the Doctor’s cheek. “Sweetie. I’ll be really dead whether I go back or not. Maybe it’s time to let me go.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor gapes, clearly struggling, and she breaks eye contact for a moment – then her gaze fixes on River again, determined. “No.”</p><p> </p><p>“Doctor—“</p><p> </p><p>“Wait there,” the Doctor says, shaking free of her grasp. “You wait there, and you <em>don’t die</em>, do you understand?”</p><p> </p><p>Without waiting for an answer, she runs out of the room.</p><p> </p><p>River is left alone. She twists on the floor, trying again to see the blood, the life pouring out of her – the life that is <em>in</em> her. The life she missed so sorely, existing as a ghost for so long.</p><p> </p><p>She watches it seeping towards a fold in the fabric of her suit and dripping slowly onto the marble floor, where it pools underneath her. She wonders how much is left. It seems like so much has spilled already.</p><p> </p><p>How much longer? She would hate for the Doctor to come back and find her already dead.</p><p> </p><p>With an effort, she pushes one hand down and underneath her stomach, trying to use the gravity pressing her body down against her fist to apply pressure and slow the bleeding. She can’t see it anymore, though, with her arm in the way. She can’t tell if it’s helping. She can only feel her hand getting slowly soaked.</p><p> </p><p>She’s in a lot of pain, she realises for the first time. She’d forgotten pain. She thinks that under normal circumstances it might be all-consuming, but just at the moment it’s another part of the wonderful package of real life experiences, and she laughs, and then laughs louder when the shaking of her body makes the pain more intense.</p><p> </p><p>She’s vaguely aware that this is not a normal reaction. That just makes her laugh more, until the edges of her vision go fuzzy and she fights unsuccessfully against unconsciousness.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p> </p><p>“River.”</p><p> </p><p>It’s the Doctor’s voice.</p><p> </p><p>River frowns, not sure why she’s hearing it.</p><p> </p><p>“River, can you hear me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, sweetie,” she says irritably, and her eyes slit open.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor’s face hovers into view under a blurry ceiling, and River realises she’s lying in a bed. Her eyes snap open the rest of the way and she sits up – only to fall back into the pillows with a gasp. Her stomach aches like she’s been punched in the gut with a war hammer.</p><p> </p><p>“She shot me,” River remembers.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, but you shot her back.” The Doctor smiles, the concern on her face easing.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“She fell in a hole and got eaten by the Vashta Nerada.”</p><p> </p><p>“No, I mean…” River looks around. “Where am I?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hospital. Sisters of the Infinite Schism. You nearly died, in more ways than one – the Vashta Nerada were feasting on all the blood you spilled when I landed the TARDIS. Wouldn’t have been more than a few seconds before they moved on to the rest of you.”</p><p> </p><p>“But I’m alive.” River raises her hands to her face, needing some way to feel the reality of the situation. Tears suddenly sting her eyes. “I was dead, and you brought me back.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor nods, and she smiles gently. “About time, too.”</p><p> </p><p>River raises her hands to cup the Doctor’s cheeks, and she pulls her face down so she can kiss her.</p><p> </p><p>Kissing the Doctor in real life is nothing like kissing her in the Library.</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor’s hand comes up to rest against hers and her skin is warm and wonderfully imperfect. Her mouth tastes of jammy dodgers – a slight surprise, in this incarnation – and she smells of time, <em>real</em> time, finite and infinite simultaneously.</p><p> </p><p>And a tear falls from the Doctor’s eye and onto River’s cheek.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p> </p><p>It takes longer than she would like, but eventually River and the Doctor make it back to the Library to check on her friends.</p><p> </p><p>‘Eventually’ being a relative term, of course; they land only moments after the Doctor dematerialised. Miss Evangelista teleports them both into the data core at once.</p><p> </p><p>She’s left the blue place, River is relieved to see; Charlotte’s house is back, and Charlotte in it, along with Anita, Proper Dave, and Other Dave.</p><p> </p><p>“River!” Charlotte cries, running towards her for a hug.</p><p> </p><p>“Charlotte.” River embraces her gratefully. “Are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>Charlotte nods. “Miss Evangelista fixed everything.”</p><p> </p><p>“Miss Evangelista is nowhere near fixing everything,” Miss Evangelista puts in with a smile. “But I can, now there are no more intruders in our systems.”</p><p> </p><p>“Would you like some help with that?” the Doctor asks. “There’s a few updates I’ve been thinking about for Doctor Moon.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that, once he’s back online.” Miss Evangelista nods.</p><p> </p><p>“What did you do with Baxter?” Anita asks.</p><p> </p><p>“Dropped him off in an 18<sup>th</sup> century prison,” the Doctor tells her. “Not much chance of him hacking his way out of that one.”</p><p> </p><p>“I want to improve the physical security of the planet. And of Doctor Moon, for that matter,” River puts in. “We don’t want anything like this to happen again.”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you staying then, River?” Charlotte asks hopefully.</p><p> </p><p>“For a little while,” River promises. “And then… we’ll see.”</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p> </p><p>And then…</p><p> </p><p>It’s not even a question, actually. River is glad the others realise that long before she has to tell them. She loves them all, but she loves having a second chance at life even more.</p><p> </p><p>She and the Doctor sit on a beach on an uninhabited world, to enjoy their new beginning.</p><p> </p><p>“So,” the Doctor says, pulling dish after dish out of a picnic basket that must be bigger on the inside. “Where would you like to go first?”</p><p> </p><p>River looks out at the sea and digs her toes into the warm sand. She’s still getting used to the richness of the sensory input out in the real world that she always took for granted before. She listens to the waves crash against the nearby rocks a few more times before she answers, and she feels the breeze in her hair. “I think,” she says slowly, “I would quite like to be surprised. Surprise isn’t something that happens very often when you’re inside a computer.”</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor pulls a champagne bottle out of the basket. “Surprise!” she declares, fishing out some glasses and pressing one into River’s hand.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re voluntarily drinking champagne?” River says, watching her pour. “That is a surprise.”</p><p> </p><p>“Whole new me,” the Doctor says, pouring a glass for herself. She smiles. “Whole new us.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll drink to that.”</p><p> </p><p>They clink their glasses together, and sip. River thinks this may be the most delicious thing she’s ever tasted – or has she just forgotten what real food and drink is like?</p><p> </p><p>The Doctor is frowning at the horizon.</p><p> </p><p>“Sweetie?” River follows her gaze, squinting.</p><p> </p><p>“Does that look like a spaceship in the sky, to you?” says the Doctor.</p><p> </p><p>River looks more carefully.</p><p> </p><p>“It does look like a spaceship,” she says, slowly. It looks familiar, too. She waits a few more moments, to be certain, but then… “It looks like a Dalek spaceship,” she says, her tone hardening.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s coming straight for us.”</p><p> </p><p>“Time to go.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yep.”</p><p> </p><p>She grabs her hand, and they run.</p>
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